
Class &U S T 
Book , W 3 



Copyrights? 



o / ' ' " 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



What Baptists Believe 



The New Hampshire Confession 
An Exposition 



"I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, 
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day 
according to the scriptures. — 1 Cor. 15:3, 4. 



O. C. S. WALLACE, D.D., LL.D, 

Pastor First Baptist Church 
Baltimore, U. S. A. 



PRICE, 50 CENTS, PREPAID 



S 

^ SundayJ>chool Board 
Southern Baptist Convention 
Nashville, Tennessee 



;<?/3 



Copyright 1913 

Sunday School Board 

Southern Baptist Convention 



JAN -9 191 



©CtA382148 



• 



DEDICATED 
to 

JAMES P. BOYCE, First President 

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 

and to 

B. H. CARROLL, First President 

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary 

MIGHTY MEN 

In the Kingdom of Christian Teaching 



PREFACE 

This book is for the use of young people. Its eighteen 
chapters may be regarded as extended paraphrases of the 
eighteen articles of the New Hampshire Confession of Faith. 

There are many repetitions. These are connected with 
those fundamental truths which relate themselves closely 
to several of the articles. For this reason, and because the 
whole purpose here is to teach, and repetition is necessary in 
teaching, there has been no attempt to avoid repetition. 

Each chapter is divided into numbered sections, and at 
the close of the chapter there are questions corresponding to 
these sections. Those who wish to study th Scriptures upon 
which the declarations of the New Hampshire Confession are 
based will find them indicated in connection with the several 
articles. These articles are printed before the corresponding 
chapters. 

This Confession was chosen for the present purpose because 
it is the formula of Christian truth most commonly used 
as a standard in Baptist churches throughout the country, 
to express what they believe according to the Scriptures. 
It has been adopted, too, within the last few years, with the 
modification of a single word, by the Southwestern Baptist 
Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas, as a suitable ex- 
pression of its doctrinal character and life. For helpful 
comparison and study an Appendix is added which presents 
"Abstract of Principles of the Southern Baptist Theo- 
logical Seminary" at Louisville, Ky. 

It is only just to say, however, that these great creedal 
statements of Christian faith, notwithstanding their essential 
agreement and conspicuous use, would not be quoted singly 
or jointly as exercising authority over the belief of anyone. 
Yet in an eminent and almost commanding way they repre- 
sent the things which are most surely believed among a great 
people, who recognize the Scriptures alone as the one supreme 
standard of religious belief and practice. 

The Pastor's Study, O. C. S. Wallace. 

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 

Baltimore, March, 1913. 



CONTENTS 



Historical Introduction 6 

I. The Holy Scriptures 10 

II. TheTrueGod 20 

III. The Fall of Man ._ 32 

IV. The Way of Salvation 42 

V. Justification through Faith 52 

VI. The Freeness of Salvation 62 

VII. Grace in Regeneration 72 

VIII. Repentance and Faith 82 

IX. God's Purpose of Grace 94 

X. Sanctification by the Truth 106 

XI. The Perseverance of Saints 118 

XII. Harmony of Law and Gospel 128 

XIII. A Gospel Church 138 

XIV. Baptism and the Lord's Supper 150 

XV. The Christian Sabbath 162 

XVI. Civil Government 172 

■ XVII. The Righteous and the Wicked 182 

XVIII. The World to Come 192 

Specimen Questions for Examination 202 

Abstract of Principles of Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. 204 



HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 

In 1853 J. Newton Brown, then editorial secretary of the 
American Baptist Publication Society, published "The Bap- 
tist Church Manual," incorporating in it the declaration of 
principles commonly called "The New Hampshire Confes- 
sion." In the advertisement of his Manual, Brown claims 
the authorship of this Declaration of Faith. This claim is 
not fully supported by the history, though he may have hon- 
estly thought that his part in the production of "The Con- 
fession" was greater than others might be willing to concede. 

In the last part of the eighteenth century there were re- 
vivals in many churches in different parts of New England. 
With the opening of the nineteenth century the revival spirit 
continued and extended more widely. In the Congrega- 
tional churches there was great doctrinal unrest, resulting in 
the separation early in the century of the Unitarians from the 
Trinitarians. It was in 1805 that Henry Ware was appointed 
to the Hollis Professorship of divinity in Harvard University. 
This was a distinct victory for the Unitarian propagandists, 
and roused the Evangelicals to new aggressiveness and a 
greater emphasis upon evangelical doctrines. 

These two currents, one evangelistic and the other doc- 
trinal, united to form a stream of religious life of deep fervor 
and of pronounced convictions in respect to New Testament 
truth. As a result, in localities where settlers were establish- 
ing new communities and in older communities where spirit- 
ual awakening was enlarging the number of believers, there 
developed a tendency to give formal expression to the thing9 
which were commonly believed. Some Baptist churches were 
content to adopt "The Philadelphia Confession," others, 
"The London Confession," and still others, the confession of 
some individual church; but in other instances new declara- 
tions were prepared. In the Eastern Maine Association, for 
example, a document notable for its comprehensiveness, pun- 
6 



HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 7 

gency and literary form was printed in 1825 as the declaration 
of faith of that Association. This declaration was in fact an 
approximation to a primer of Christian divinity. Besides 
this there were other Confessions which many would regard 
as not inferior to the New Hampshire Confession. How the 
New Hampshire Confession came to be more widely adopted 
than any other is an interesting story. 

In the Minutes of the New Hampshire Convention of 1830 
we find this record: 

"Whereas the Baptist denomination of Christians are be- 
lieved to be united in their views of the important and essen- 
tial doctrines and practices of our holy religion, (although 
their declarations of faith are not in precisely the same language 
as it is desirable that they should be,) therefore 

Resolved, that brethren N. W. Williams, William Taylor 
and I. Person be a committee to prepare and present at our 
next annual session such a Declaration of Faith and Practice, 
together with a Covenant, as may be thought ^ agreeable and 
consistent with the views of all our churches in this state." 

The last words of this resolution are significant. For about 
half a century Arminian views had been vigorously taught in 
New Hampshire. The influence of this teaching had greatly 
modified the earlier New England Calvinism even where 
Arminianism was still rejected. With this fact in mind the 
non-committal character of certain parts of the Declaration 
finally adopted by the New Hampshire Convention can be 
understood. 

The committee consisting of N. W. Williams, William Tay- 
lor and I. Person, appointed in 1830, reported progress at the 
Convention in 1831, but stated that it had not been able to 
complete its work; and requested that the committee be dis- 
charged. This request was granted; but one member of the 
committee, the Rev. Ira Person, was appointed to continue 
the work undertaken by the committee. This Ira Person 
seems to have been a man of little education, but of vigorous 
mind and strong personality. He was the pastor in 1830 of 
the church in Newport, which that year reported two hundred 



8 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

and thirty-three members, being the second in membership 
in the state. In 1830 he was the first Vice-President of the 
Convention, and soon after served as President. The re- 
cords indicate that he was one of the strongest leaders of the 
denomination in New Hampshire in that period. 

At the meeting of the convention June 26, 1832, Person 
made his report. The heading of his draft was, 

"A Declaration of the views of Christian Doctrine of the 
Baptist Church of Christ 

in 



This title indicates that Person intended that the Declara- 
tion prepared under the direction of the Convention should 
not be binding upon the churches, but suggestive only; and 
that it should be offered to individual churches for their ap- 
proval and adoption at will. 

Person's draft, the original of which is still in existence, 
consisted of seven articles. An exact copy of this original, 
made by the Rev. Arthur Warren Smith, the accomplished 
librarian ol the New England Baptist Library, may be seen 
now at the Ford Building, Boston. 

By vote of the Convention Person's report was accepted, 
and was referred to a committee consisting of Baron Stow, 
J. Newton Brown, and Jonathan Going, with its author. It 
is likely that the three who were associated with Person on 
this committee were selected because they were men of edu- 
cation. That committee reported in favor of adopting the 
Articles as prepared by Person, with some slight alterations; 
but after discussion action was deferred, and the Convention 
as such did not again deal with the Confession. 

The Board of the Convention to which the Articles were 
referred for such disposal as it might think wise, referred the 
document to Baron Stow and J. Newton Brown for revision 
and presentation at the next meeting of the Board. At its 
meeting in October, 1832, the Board discussed each Article 
with great care, making alterations and additions. 



HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 9 

January 15, 1833, the Board took out the words "Article" 
and "Articles" and substituted "Declaration" and "Declara- 
tioDS." This was the last change made. 

As the document came from the hands of this committee 
it consisted of sixteen Articles or Declarations, instead of 
seven as originally drafted by Ira Person. Though the draft 
as made by Person had been freely dealt with, the Confession 
in its final form should be regarded as an expansion of his 
draft and not as something new. 

By request of the Board J. Newton Brown prepared the 
document for printing. 

In 1847 Brown was made editorial secretary of the American 
Baptist Publication Society at Philadelphia. In 1853 he 
published "The Baptist Church Manual." In this Manual 
he printed the Confession of Faith which had been adopted in 
New Hampshire in 1833, adding to it, however, two articles, 
namely, those appearing now in the Declaration of Faith under 
the headings "Repentance and Faith" and " Sanctification." 
In announcing this publication Mr. Brown adds the words, 
"with such revision as on mature reflection, he deems called 
for, after a lapse of twenty years." 

From the foregoing it is apparent that the New Hampshire 
Confession was not prepared with any thought that it was 
destined to be adopted widely outside of the state in which 
it was prepared. Its wide circulation was due chiefly to the 
fact that one of the men who worked upon it was later editorial 
secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society. 



I. OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divine- 
ly inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction: 1 
that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, 2 and truth 
without any mixture of error, for its matter; 3 that it reveals the 
principles by which God will judge us; 4 and therefore is, and 
shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Chris- 
tian union, 5 and the supreme standard by which all human 
conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried. 6 
Places in the Bible where taught. 

*2 Tim. 3: 16, 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit-^/ 7 
able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that 
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (Also 
2 Pet. 1: 21; 2 Sam. 23: 2; Acts 1: 16; 3: 21; John 10: 35; Luke 16: 29-31; Ps. 119: 
111; Rom. 3:1, 2.) 

2 2 Tim. 3 : 15. Able to make thee wise unto salvation. (Also 1 Pet. 1 : 10-12; 
Acta 11: 14; Rom. 1: 16; Mark 16: 16; John 5: 38, 39.) 

8 Prov. 30: 5, 6. Every word of God is pure . . . Add thou not unto his words, 
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Also John 17:17; Rev. 22 : 18, 19; 
Rpm.3:4.) 

v'' *Rom. 2: 12. Aa many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. 
John 12: 47, 48. If any man hear my words ... the word that I have spoken , the 
same shall judge him in the last day. (Also 1 Cor. 4:3,4; Luke 10: 10-16; 12 : 47, 
48.) 

k/ *Phil. 3: 16. Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. (Also 
Eph.4:3-6;Phil.2:l,2; 1 Cor.l: 10; 1 Pet.4: 11.) 

•1 John 4:1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether th ey 
v areofGod. Isa. 8:20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not ac- 
cording to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 1 Thess. 5:21. 
Prove all things. 2 Cor. 13:5. Prove your own selves. (Also Acts 17:11; 
1 John 4: 6; Jude 3; Eph. 6: 17; Ps. 119: 59, 60; Phil. 1: 9-11). 

10 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

i. The Latin word scribo means I write. 

From this comes the word scriptura, meaning 
that which has been written. In a broad sense 
anything which has been written may be called 
" scripture. " But among Christians the word 
"scripture" or "scriptures" has specific meaning. 
It refers to the writings which are contained in 
the Bible. These writings are called the Sacred 
Scriptures, or the Holy Scriptures, to indicate 
that the message contained in them is a message 
concerning sacred or holy things. This distin- 
guishes them from all other writings. 

2. The complete collection of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures is called the Bible. The Greek word bib- 
lion means a little book. The plural of this is 
biblia, meaning little books. Our Scriptures are 
composed of 66 little books, 39 in the Old Testa- 
ment, 27 in the New Testament, and welded to- 
gether as one book. These 66 books may be 
referred to as the Little Books. Put into Greek 
this would be the Biblia. From this comes the 
word Bible. For the same reason that the Scrip- 
tures are called the Holy Scriptures the Bible 
is called the Holy Bible. 

3. We have the Bible because we have God. 
If there were no living God, or if God paid no 
attention to men, there would be no Bible. It 
is because God is living and personal and inter- 
ested in men thatHe gave us the Bible. After 
He had made the world He kept His heart close 
to the hearts of men. Whenever they cried out 
in pain, perplexity or sorrow He heard their cry 
and understood what it meant. The burdens 
that oppressed the people oppressed Him. He 



12 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

knew what would enable them to find the way of 
safety and blessedness. If they were to be saved 
from evil and sin and destruction, they must know 
many things which at the beginning they did not 
know. 

4* Many things that people needed to know 
they could not learn by themselves. They could 
learn a great deal by experience. They could 
learn a great deal by study; they could learn about 
soil and seeds, water and fruits, trees and metals, 
fish and cattle, foods and poisons, forces and na- 
tural laws, the motions of the stars and the work- 
ings of the human mind; but there were things 
deeper and finer than these that they could not 
learn. They could not learn about the nature 
of God and His will, nor about His purposes of 
grace, nor* about redemption and forgiveness in 
Christ Jesus, nor about the future life. The 
common people could not learn these things by 
themselves. Nor could the wisest people. Some 
one outside of themselves must teach them. In 
all the universe there was only One who could 
teach them adequately. That One was God. 

5. God can teach men in different ways. He 
can teach by object lessons without words. This 
He has done from the beginning. Of this method 
of teaching the psalmist speaks in the nineteenth 
psalm, and Paul in the first chapter of Romans. 
The forces of nature and the powers and char- 
acteristics of the human mind have been object 
lessons always. These were enough to lead men 
to recognize the presence of God in the universe 
and to understand that He was a God of wisdom 
and power. In all ages and lands men who were 
earnest and profound thinkers, whether they were 
shepherds studying the stars as they guarded 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 13 

their flocks, or sages and seers endowed with all 
the learning of their generation, have learned 
something of the works and character of God as 
they communed with nature and reasoned upon 
the things which they saw and felt. 

6. Men needed to know more than they could 
learn from object lessons without words. As 
long as they had no knowledge beyond this they 
stumbled and hurt themselves. Therefore God 
spoke to them by words. He gave commands. 
He spoke promises. He pointed out dan- 
gers and showed the way of good. He spoke 
thus to Adam, Noah, Abram and many others. 
Sometimes the word which He spoke related only 
to the welfare of the individual. Oftener His 
word summoned the person to whom He spoke to 
do something that would bring blessing to others. 
When He commanded Abram to depart from his 
people and to make his home in a new country, 
the divine purpose explored the coming centuries 
with the intention of blessing unborn multitudes. 
Thus the word spoken to an individual had mean- 
ing for all who should come after, though as 
instruction it was addressed to one man only. 

7. In the process of time God enlarged the 
scope of His revelations. He spoke not only to 
some one man concerning what He required of 
that man, but also concerning what He required 
certain other men to do. For example, He gave 
messages to Moses and Elijah and John the Bap- 
tist for the men of their generations. These 
messages were to be delivered in person and by 
the spoken word. Moses must speak to men in 
Egypt and the wilderness, Elijah to men in north- 
ern Palestine, John the Baptist to men in southern 
Palestine. In all this God was not commanding 



14 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

these men to write Scripture, though subsequent 
to the event the record of what was commanded 
and done became Scripture. 

8. God at length gave men messages which 
were intended for mankind in general and for 
the ages to come. Some of these messages were 
contained in the history of His dealings with the 
ancient Hebrews. Others were direct revela- 
tions of eternal truth as related to Himself and 
to mankind. That these messages might reach 
those for whom they were intended it was ne- 
cessary that they should be written. Every 
form of message intended for people whom the 
messenger could not meet face to face must be 
written. 

Here then are four stages of revelation: 
(i) Teaching by object lessons without words; 
(2) direct instruction to men concerning what 
they themselves must do; (3) messages sent by 
word of mouth to others; (4) revelations writ- 
ten down to be read by succeeding ages. 

9. The men to whom God gave the messages 
which He required put into permanent form by 
writing were selected with care. They were 
selected because of their fitness to do the thing 
which He wanted done. There was a fitness of 
character, of intellect, of attainment and of the 
age and place in which they lived. A man who 
is to write a message must know how to use a 
pen: God selected men who could write. A 
man who is to write a message must know how to 
use the language of the people for whom the mes- 
sage is intended: God selected Isaiah to write in 
Hebrew to those who knew Hebrew and Paul 
to write in Greek to those who knew Greek. A 
man who is to write a message must have quali- 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 15 

ties of intellect which qualify him to give ade- 
quate expression to the ideas which God wants 
him to express: God selects a stick for such uses 
as sticks are intended for, and men for tasks re- 
quiring the exercise of human powers; when He 
wants His message carried to men in the form of 
a psalm He selects a poet like David to write 
psalms; when He wants a terse and graphic story 
of the life of His Son He selects a man like Mark 
to write it; when He wants a mighty argument 
like the epistle to the Romans written He selects 
a reasoner like Paul to write it. 

A man who is to write a certain message must 
have a certain relation to the age to which God 
intends that particular revelation to be made; 
Moses, for example, wrote messages in his day 
for which the world had never before been ready; 
Jeremiah wrote messages which would not have 
been understood in the time of Moses; and Paul 
in his day wrote messages which would have be- 
wildered men if they had been written a hundred 
years earlier. All these written messages took 
their place in their appointed time and became 
part of the Scripture of the people of the ages 
following. 

10. These men whom God selected because 
of their fitness for the task He wanted them to 
do, were not left to themselves. They needed 
something more than natural endowments and 
the influence of their age. They needed special 
illumination and guidance. This special qual- 
ification was given directly from God. His 
Spirit acted continually upon the spirit of the 
man whom He had selected to write. This gave 
spiritual energy as he wrote. It also prevented 
him from introducing errors which would have 
misrepresented the thought of God. 



l6 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

Because the Spirit of God joined in the work 
of producing Scripture this great variety of little 
books, written by men of various ages, circum- 
stances and attainments, reveals divine unity of 
purpose and message, makes the Bible trust- 
worthy as a sufficient and perfect guide in things 
relating to God. 

ii. The Bible was not given to teach men 
things which they were capable of learning by 
themselves. It was not given to teach men where 
the continents and oceans are, where the mount- 
ains and valleys lie, where the rivers have their 
sources, which of the stars are planets and which 
are suns, to what uses the forces of nature may 
be put, what are the highest forms of poetry, 
what history was made by the ancient nations, 
nor the other myriads of things which men have 
been learning during the passing of the centuries. 

The special help of God was not needed at 
any of these points. But if men were ignorant 
of the way of righteousness and of salvation in 
Christ, there would be no cure for their sick- 
ness and no supply for their need. 

12. The message of the Bible is a message 
concerning eternal life. Eternal life means much 
more than future life. The Bible is not simply 
a book of the future life, but of that eternal life 
which Jesus Christ offered men, that life which 
becomes the present possession of those who be- 
lieve on Him, and which has present quality and 
present relationships as well as the promise of 
continuance beyond these earthly years in great- 
er perfection amidst heavenly relationships. 

Whatever has moral or spiritual quality or 
bearing is related to eternal life. For everything 
of this kind the revelation of God has meaning. 



tHE HOLY SCRIPTURES 17 

The Bible therefore while a full and sufficient 
revelation concerning the way of eternal life* is 
not, and was not meant to be, a full and suffi- 
cient revelation concerning sheep-raising or horti- 
culture or chemistry or biology or geology or 
telegraphy or tailoring. 

13. When the writers of Scripture were writ- 
ing down God's message concerning eternal 
life they wrote as men chosen of God. They 
made such use of their knowledge of nature, people 
and forms of literary expression current in their 
day as was natural and fitting. They wrote of 
natural phenomena as the men of their day con- 
ceived of natural phenomena: had they written 
of natural phenomena in the terms which a modern 
biologist, geologist, chemist or physicist would 
use, the people would have been as much bewil- 
dered as if they had written in English to men who 
understood only Hebrew. 

They wrote records of the history of people, 
a part of God's revelation being in the progressive 
history of His ancient people; but the history is 
incidental to the main purpose of revealing God 
in His relation to men and of setting forth Jesus 
Christ as the complete manifestation of God and 
fulfilment of the prophecies and types of all the 
history leading up to Him. There is poetry in 
the Bible as well as history, and poetry of a sin- 
gularly noble quality; but the Bible was not given 
as a book of poetry just as it was not given as a 
book of history or of science or of psychology. 

If when Jesus was feeding the five thousand 
some cynic had said, in loud and confident tones, 
that rubies and diamonds were more beautiful 
than fragments of broken bread, the hungry mul- 
titudes would have gone on eating. What Jesus 



l8 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

was giving them was bread for their hunger, not 
jewels for ornament. Always when helping men 
he did what they needed. If men had needed 
that the Bible, besides being God's great religious 
message to the world, should give a detailed and 
exact statement of the geologic and biologic chang- 
es up to date, the Bible would not have been lack- 
ing at that point. But it was not necessary. 
Whatever is found in the Scriptures other than 
the religious message is only incidental, and may 
be fragmentary. It is the religious message which 
is there in fulness and completeness; for it was to 
give this message that the Bible was written. 

14. The revelation of God to men was com- 
pleted in Jesus Christ. The history, the pro- 
phecies and the sacrificial types recorded in the 
Scriptures before he was born looked forward to 
him. In his person as Son of God and Saviour 
of men all religious teaching culminated. All 
that was written concerning his ministry and the 
ministry of the men who in the generation fol- 
lowing him made his teachings known to the world, 
looked back to him. As the revelation of God 
culminated in him, when these records had been 
written other writings were not needed. The 
message was complete, and the Bible stood forth 
as "a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction 
the supreme standard by which all hu- 
man conduct, creeds and opinions should be 
tried," to this day the one "true center of Chris- 
tian union." 



THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 19 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER I. 

1. What do we mean when we speak of the 
"Holy Scriptures?" 

2. Why are the scriptures called "The Bible'? 

3. From whose thought did the Bible come? 

4. Why was the Bible needed? 

, 5. What are some of the ways by which God 
could teach men? 

6. Why was it necessary for God to speak to 
men? 

7. Name some men by whom God sent mes- 
sages to some other men? 

8. Name four stages of revelation. 

9. Why were certain men, rather than others, 
selected to write the Scriptures? 

10. What part did the Holy Spirit take in 
producing the Scriptures? 

11. What kind of knowledge was it unneces- 
sary to impart in the Scriptures? 

12. Concerning what great matter does the 
Bible give a special message? 

13. What use did the writers of the Bible make 
of human knowledge? 

14. What is Christ's relation to the Scriptures? 



II. OF THE TRUE GOD. 

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true 
God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, whose name is Jehovah, 
the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; 1 inex- 
pressibly glorious in holiness, 2 and worthy of all possible honor, 
confidence, and love; 3 that in the unity of the Godhead there 
are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; 4 
equal in every divine perfection, 5 and executing distinct but 
harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

^ohn 4: 24. God is a Spirit. Ps. 147: 5. His understanding is infinite. Pa. 
83: 18. Thou, whose name alone is JEVOVAH, art the Most High over all the 
earth. (Heb. 3:4; Rom . 1 : 20 ; Jer . 10 : 10.) 

2 Exod .15:11. Who is like unto thee . . . glorious in holiness. (Isa . 6 : 3 ; 1 Peter 
1:15, 16; Rev. 4:6-8.) 

3 Mark 12: 30. Thou sbalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind , and with all thy strength. Rev. 4:11. Thou 
art worthy, Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created 
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Matt. 10: 37; Jer. 2: 12, 
13.) 

4 Matt. 28: 19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. John 15: 26. When 
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit 
of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. (1 Cor. 12: 
4-6; 1 John 5: 7.) 

tfohn 10: 30. I and my Father are one. (John 5: 17; 14: 23; 17: 5, 10; Acta 
5: 3, 4; 1 Cor. 2: 10, 11; Phil. 2: 5, 6.) 

6 Eph .2:18. For through him [ the Son] we both have access by one Spirit unto 
the Father. 2 Cor. 13: 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. (Rev. 1: 4, 5; comp. 
ch. 2, 7.) 
20 



THE TRUE GOD, 

i. If we had no Bible we should know little 
about God. We might know something about 
Him. Paul tells us so in Romans 1:19, 20. 
Some men who never saw the Bible have certain 
noble ideas about God. But in general when 
men have lacked the guidance of the Scriptures 
their ideas concerning God have been inadequate, 
sometimes ignoble or even horrible. Men have 
supposed that there were many Gods. Some of 
these gods were thought to be weak little gods, 
and others very strong; some gentle, and others 
fierce; some kindly, and others vindictive; some 
noble in character, and others immoral; some the 
friends of men, and others their tricky and treach- 
erous enemies. 

Base ideas concerning gods were commonly the 
ideas of the ignorant. The more thoughtful 
had better conceptions. They believed that 
somewhere there was mighty Power and great 
Wisdom. Back of all forces natural and super- 
natural their minds searched for one God. They 
were inclined to believe in such a God. But they 
could not reach certainty. For this, revelation 
was needed, and revelation was given. It is 
the Bible. This is the source of all clear and 
trustworthy information concerning God. It 
is from the Bible we learn that there are not many 
gods but One only; and we discover, with the 
revelation of this one God before us, that all else 
which men had thought were gods are only forces 
of nature or mere creatures of fancy. 

2. This one God is a living God. There 
have been people who worshipped the sun. Fire 
has been worshipped. Many of the forces and 

21 



22 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

phenomena of nature have received homage. 
Others have thought that the sum of all matter 
and force was God. But the God revealed in 
the Bible is not a great insensate figure in the 
universe, like the sun, nor a natural force, nor 
the sum of all forces of the universe, but a living 
Being, with a life separate and distinct from the 
universe and all other beings in the universe. 
Whatever therefore is His relation to the universe, 
He may be described as independent, exalted 
and living. He is no more a part of the universe 
than a watchmaker is a part of the watch which 
he has made, no more the sum of the universe 
than the watchmaker is the sum of all the watches 
he has made. In a strict and literal sense God 
is a living Being. He is alive as truly as any man 
is alive, but in a higher and completer sense. 

3. The one living God is a Spirit. This Jesus 
declared at Jacob's well to the woman of Samaria. 
He is not a being of flesh and blood as men are. 
He is not a being of color, shape and motion, in 
the sense that a horse or bird is. He is free from 
the limitations of matter. If He were as we are 
He could be in only one place at a time. Because 
He is Spirit He is independent of space. If He 
is helping a needy soul in Asia and hears a cry 
from a needy soul in America, He is not incapable 
of helping the crying American until such time as 
He can make the journey from Asia to America. 
At every moment He is as near the American as 
the Asiatic. It was with this great fact in mind 
that Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that the 
people who worshipped God could find Him any- 
where, on Mount Gerizim, in the temple at Jeru- 
salem, or anywhere else in the world. "God is 
a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship 
in spirit and truth." 



THE TRUE GOD 23 

4. God has infinite intelligence. Because we 
are ourselves intelligent beings we are able to 
think of Him as an intelligent Being. We can 
perceive, think, know, plan. So can God. He 
is not a great immovable Something, of a nature 
so different from ours that He can pass the ages 
without thought or care or plan. He thinks 
as we do, except that His thoughts are infinitely 
higher than our thoughts. His thoughts are 
infinitely many also, and no man can tell the sum 
of them. We know a little: He knows all things. 
We meet problems daily which are too much for 
us: He is never staggered by difficult problems. 
What was He knows. What is He knows. He 
knows what is to be. God cannot be taken by 
surprise, is never perplexed, is never compelled 
to say, "I do not know which way to turn." 
Because His intelligence is infinite He knows all 
and always knows. 

5. The name of God is Jehovah. Variations 
in the form of that name are Yah and Yahweh or 
Yahveh. The important thing for us to know 
is not the exact form or pronunciation of the name, 
but its meaning. A man's name may signify 
little or nothing. Not all Smiths, are smiths, not 
all Bishops are bishops, not all Greens are green. 
John or James or Henry designates a certain per- 
son. Beyond that there is usually no significance 
in a name. It is otherwise with respect to the 
name of God. 

Jehovah is not simply a name that designates 
Him, distinguishing Him from Baal or Moloch 
or Dagon or Bel, but is also a significant name. 
It proclaims Him as the living God, and testifies 
to something . concerning Him. The name Je- 
hovah has a meaning which presents God as THE 



24 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

ONE WHO IS AND SHALL BE. By this 
name Moses was commanded to speak of God to 
the children of Israel in Egypt: "And God said 
unto Moses, I THAT AM I AM: and He said, 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said 
moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto 
the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your 
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: 
this is my name forever, and this is my memorial 
unto all generations." 

6. This one living and true God, whose sub- 
stance is Spirit, whose intelligence is infinite, 
and whose memorial name is Jehovah, is the 
Creator of the universe. "In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth." We can 
think of a time when there was no sun or moon or 
stars, no solid earth or flowing ocean, no mount- 
ains or great plains; but one cannot think of a 
time when there was no God. Before the "be 
ginning," God. At the "beginning," God. God 
over all, beneath all, in all. By His will this world 
and all worlds came into being; by His will all 
varieties of existence, all forms of life, all changes 
and developments, appeared. 

We may not know by what methods and pro- 
cesses God did His great creative works. A 
little only is revealed in the Bible. A little 
only have men learned by study. Perhaps 
more will be learned in the ages to come. One 
thing we know: the world did not make itself; 
God made it. The earth did not make the life 
upon it: by God all forms of life were created. 
Matter and force did not make man: man is a 
creature of God* It is not important to know 



THE TRUE GOD 2$ 

by what process or in what length of time God 
wrought the clay into man; it is enough for us to 
know that God did it. 

7. He who made the universe is its Supreme 
Ruler. The one centre about which the universe 
turns is God. There are lower powers subor- 
dinate to Him. Closer to Him in nature and pow- 
er than earthly rulers there may be great intelli- 
gences engaged in doing His will; but if so it is 
His will that they do, not their own. There are 
upon the earth many who are called sovereigns, 
but their rule is within narrow areas and offices. 
There is a queen in every hive, a leader in every 
herd, a dominant personality among every group 
of children at play. Everywhere we find leader- 
ship and following, sovereignties and subordina- 
tions. But over all things is God. And it is 
He alone who sees the way to that one far off 
divine event to which the whole creation moves. 

8. God is holy. He is holy in Himself. He 
is morally incapable of wickedness, injustice or 
evil of any kind. This is essential to His being 
as God. For God to commit an unholy act would 
be for Him to commit suicide. No angel or man 
therefore can be treated unjustly by God, or 
wronged in any way. But His holiness is not 
simply negative. It is also positive. Not only 
will God refrain from doing evil, but He will not 
fail to do good. His holiness is active. It works. 
That work is more than service for needy men: 
it is opposition to wrong and wrong-doers of every 
kind. Whoever in the universe is evil and does 
evil puts himself in opposition to God, takes an 
attitude of defiance of His will, invites peril and 
disaster from His displeasure. 

9. God is worthy to be worshipped. He is 



26 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

the only Being in the universe who should be 
worshipped. Men will worship some one or 
something. There seems to be within men a 
voice which is ever calling: " Come, let us worship 
and bow down." When men worship inferior 
things, and especially base things, they become 
dwarfed in soul, and debased. He who makes a 
god of self-indulgence or any evil passion, and 
subordinates his best powers at that evil altar, 
becomes degraded; but he who worships God, the 
Mightiest Power, the Supremest Wisdom, the 
Highest Goodness and the Most Exalted Holi- 
ness, links his soul to that which shall uplift him 
in character and purpose. It is because God is 
superior to all, supreme in authority and highest 
in every realm which human thought can explore, 
that He appeals to men as the only proper object 
of worship. 

10. God is worthy of confidence. He is true 
and can be trusted. No one can find in Him 
falseness, treachery or deceit. Not only so, but 
in Him dwells all that is the opposite of these. 
Therefore He can never disappoint those who put 
their trust in Him. He seems to go out of His 
way to help men; but in fact this is His way. The 
way of helpfulness, mercy, relief, deliverance, is 
the way which God takes as He lives out His 
glorious life among the creatures of His hand. If 
a man leans upon a gate and the hinges give way, 
leaving him to stumble awkwardly, he is ashamed. 
If a man leans on his own judgment, and is finan- 
cially ruined because of his blunder, he is ashamed. 
And many men have been ashamed because their 
confidence has been misplaced. But no one who 
leans on God will be put to shame. He does not 
fail us, nor mislead, nor disappoint. His power, 



THE TRUE GOD 27 

wisdom and love form the three-fold cord which 
the utmost pressure of our human dependence 
can never break. 

11. God is lovable. He might have been a 
living God, a spirit, intelligent, self-existent, the 
Creator, the Supreme Ruler, holy, of such maj- 
esty as to be worthy of worship, and so honest 
and able as to be worthy of confidence, without 
being lovable. But to His strong and great qual- 
ities there are added gentle and lovable qualities. 
These are referred to in different ways in the Bible. 
His lovingkindness is often mentioned. His 
forbearance is pointed out: He is slow to anger 
and plenteous in mercy. His goodness is set 
forth in many ways: He is great-hearted and ten- 
der-hearted. In a word, He is all that love de- 
mands or hungers for. It is because He is lov- 
able that the command to love Him with all our 
powers is not harsh, or impossible to obey. 

12. God is revealed to men as the Father, 
the Son and the Holy Spirit. This does not mean 
that there are three Gods: there is only one God. 
Nor does it mean that the one God is three per- 
sons in the complete sense: strictly speaking, 
there is only One Person. When we speak of 
the Godhead as including three persons, it is 
because our language is incapable of expressing 
the idea more clearly. It means that this One 
Person, whom we worship as the true and living 
God, is manifested in three characters, each of 
these being personal in nature, neither encroach- 
ing on the other, neither antagonistic to the other 
or morally capable of being so, and yet each being 
distinct and individual. 

Such is the greatness of the Personality of God 
that it cannot be manifested to our human con- 



28 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

sciousness except in a Trinity. We cannot com- 
prehend by an intellectual process the full mean- 
ing of the conception "one in three persons, 
blessed Trinity." On the other hand we know 
God immeasurably better as Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit than we could know Him if we conceived 
of Him simply as God. In this as in many other 
things, in the commonplace of life as well as in 
its deeper things, we believe even where we cannot 
fully understand. 

13, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 
the Trinity in the Godhead, are not related un- 
equally. It cannot be said that one is superior 
and another inferior, that one is stronger than 
another, or wiser, or more compassionate, or 
closer to man. Nor may we think of the God- 
head as a family in which the Father takes the 
chief place and the Son and the Holy Spirit lower 
places. Jesus in His life on earth continually 
referred to God as His Father. He spoke as the 
Son of Man. His filial attitude followed the 
self-emptying referred to by Paul in the second 
chapter of his epistle to the Philippians. But 
when we speak of the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit as constituting the Godhead we are 
thinking of an eternal relationship, though mani- 
fested in time. 

John in the beginning of his Gospel refers to 
a relation which existed before the worlds were 
made. He calls Christ the "Word" and says 
"The Word was with God, and the Word was 
God." Jesus reveals his consciousness of this 
relation in his prayer as recorded in the seventeenth 
chapter of John. That which was true before 
the world was is true now; and we may not think 
of the Son and the Holy Spirit as merely heaven- 



THE TRUE GOD 29 

ly messengers doing God's bidding, but as 
co-equal with the Father in the administration of 
the universe. 

14. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 
are revealed to us particularly and conjointly as 
engaged in the great work of redemption. There 
are other great matters in the universe of which 
we shall doubtless have full knowledge in the ages 
to come. But the greatest matter of which we 
have knowledge now is the redemption of sinful 
and lost men by the atonement of Jesus Christ. 
Everything that the Bible contains is subordinate 
to the story of redemption. Everything else in 
human history is trivial compared with this mar- 
velous work. Therefore it is not strange that 
what we know about the Father, the Son and the 
Holy Spirit relates chiefly to redemption. The 
Bible tells us something of the activity of each 
of the Trinity apart from the direct work of re- 
demption, but the chief word concerning each 
is written to make known his part in the work 
of grace for men. As we read that story we be- 
hold the loving and compassionate Father, en- 
gaging His wisdom and mercy to redeem men, 
the gracious and pitiful Son suffering to make 
salvation accessible to men, and the illuminating 
and comforting Spirit renewing the soul and mak- 
ing available the redemption wrought by the 
Son when God was in Christ reconciling the world 
unto himself. 

15. The being of God is a mystery, and His 
manifestation in the Trinity, transcends human 
understanding. While in connection with the 
nature and works of God questions arise which 
human wisdom cannot answer and which may 
leave the inexperienced perplexed and disquieted, 



30 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

it remains true that the mystery of God, revealed 
in the tri-personality of the Father, the Son and 
the Holy Spirit, is an answer to many of the deep- 
est questionings of the human soul. To expel 
Him from our faith, to thrust Him back to the 
remoteness and vagueness of human speculation, to 
leave us without the Heavenly Father, without 
the Elder Brother, without the Comforter, would 
be not to destroy thorns but to multiply them, 
not to flood our path with light but to plunge 
ourselves into darkness. Multitudes because 
they know God, and just such a God as the Bible 
presents, a God who is Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit, have been thankful to cast aside their 
fears, to come home from the blackness of a world 
without God and a life without a Saviour, and 
reverently, lovingly, trustfully and hopefully to 
say, "In Him we live and move and have our 
being. " 



THE TRUE GOD 3 1 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER II. 

i. Without the Bible what ideas may men 
have concerning God? 

2. Why do we call God "the living God?" 

3. What is meant by the statement "God is 
a Spirit?" 

4. What may be said of God's intelligence? 

5. Give the meaning of Jehovah. 

6. How was God related to the world at the 
beginning? 

7. How is He related to it now? 

8. What is included in the holiness of God? 

9. Why should God be worshipped? 

10. Why may men trust God? 

11. Why is it not difficult to obey the command 
to love God? 

12. What is meant by "the Trinity?" 

13. How are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit 
related to each other? 

14. What does the Bible reveal as the great 
work of the Trinity? 

15. Why is it right and fitting to believe in 
the Trinity even though we cannot understand 
it? 



III. OF THE FALL OF MAN. 

We believe that man was created in holiness, under the law 
of his Maker; 1 but by voluntary transgression fell from that 
holy and happy state; 2 in consequence of which all mankind 
are now sinners, 3 not by constraint, but choice; 4 being by na- 
ture utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, 
positively inclined to evil; and therefore under just condemna- 
tion to eternal ruin, 6 without defense or excuse. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*Gen. 1: 27. God created man in his own image. Gen. 1: 31. And God saw 
every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. (Eccl. 7: 29: Acts 
17: 26-29; Gen. 2: 16, 17.) 

2Gen. 3: 6-24. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and 
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took 
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he 
did eat . . . So he [the Lord God] drove out the man : and he placed at the east of 
the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to 
keep the way of the tree of life. (Rom .5:12.) 

8 Rom. 5: 19. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. (John 
3: 6; Ps. 51: 5; Rom. 5: 15-19; 8: 7.) 

4 Isa. 53: 6. We have turned every one to his own way. (Gen. 6: 12; Rom. 3: 
9-18.) 

6 Eph. 2:1-3... Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in 
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by 
nature the children of wrath, even as others. Rom. 1 : 18. For the wrath of God 
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who 
hold the truth in unrighteousness. (Rom. 1: 32; 2: 1-160 Gal. 3: 10; Matt. 20: 15.) 

6 Ezek. 18: 19, 20. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the 
father? . . . The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity 
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; for the righteous- 
ness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be 
upon him. Rom. 1: 20. So that they are without excuse. Rom. 3: 19. That 
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 
(Gal. 3: 22.) 

32 



THE FALL OF MAN. 

i. Sin is the most irksome fact of human ex- 
perience. It is everywhere and has all seasons 
for its own, spring and summer, autumn and win- 
ter. It is no respecter of persons: it haunts the 
hovel and invades the palace. Its mark is upon 
the ignorant and upon the learned; it is linked 
with physical beauty and with physical ugliness; 
it smites the child and afflicts the aged. It is 
the discord which spoils the music of human 
happiness: to it all heartaches and tears, all dis- 
tress and despair, all foreboding and terror can 
be traced. Strong men wrestle with it as gladia- 
tors in the Colosseum wrestled with lions. Gentle 
women fight it by day and by night. Loving 
and careful parents, watching over their chil- 
dren, give God no rest as they plead that those 
they love may be delivered from sin. And while 
they pray for their children they dare not slacken 
their vigilance in respect to their own souls. The 
thunder-bolt falls, and smites; but in a moment 
the calamity is overpast, and there is time for 
rebuilding. The avalanche sweeps terribly down 
the mountain side; but in a moment the work of 
destruction ends, giving opportunity for repair. 
Not like the thunder-bolt is sin, for sin perpetually 
smites, nor like an avalanche, for sin takes no 
rest. 

2. The Bible has much to say about sin. Be- 
cause it is the book of the remedy it must needs 
talk of the disease. Because it tells of the Saviour 
it must tell of that from which there is salvation. 
We read of sin in the first human family; in the 
relation of the first brothers to each other; in 



34 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

the first industrial developments among men; 
in the first community life; in connection with 
the first worship; in the first story of the human 
service of mankind; in connection with government 
in its earliest organized form; among heroes and 
kings, and in the families of prophets and law- 
givers; among the privileged and the unprivi- 
leged in every generation; in the group of Christ's 
chosen disciples; among those who first received 
the message of remedy in Christ Jesus. As sin 
is the most irksome thing in our human experi- 
ence, so it is the terrible and menacing cloud 
which appears in all the sky of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures. 

3. Sin is a wrong relation to God. There is 
order in the universe, of which God is the author. 
There is a physical order: when that is disturbed, 
in small things or great things, trouble follows. 
Disturb the physical harmony and balance of 
the mountain, and there is a volcanic eruption 
or an avalanche; of the river, and there are 
floods; of the human body, and there is pain. 
There is a moral order: let that be disturbed 
in small things or great things, and trouble fol- 
lows. That trouble may take any one of many 
forms. 

But whatever the form, it is always a disloca- 
tion, a wrong relation of the soul to the order of 
the universe. If a watch is out of order, some- 
thing within the watch is in a wrong relation to 
the rest of the watch, and a break in the plan 
on which the watch was made and by which it 
should run and keep time. The watchmaker did 
not make the watch to be in that condition, but 
in a very different condition. When there is 
sin in a man that man is out of the true order. 



THE FALL OF MAN 35 

He is in a wrong relation to the plan of his being. 
He is out of harmony with the rule and the Ruler 
of the universe. In a word, he is in wrong rela- 
tion to his God. 

4. Sin manifests itself in a wrong attitude 
towards the person of God. God should be 
loved. His presence should be a comfort and 
delight. But where there is sin there is no de- 
light in the presence of God. There is no comfort 
in the thought, "Thou God seest me." There 
is positive dislike of God. There is dread of Him. 
He is not regarded as a loving Saviour, but as a 
stern and condemning judge. Such an attitude 
reveals not only a sense of wrongness, but is itself 
sin. It is a rejection of the highest authority 
and a desire to be free from that authority. It 
is a repudiation of the highest obligation, and a 
desire to be free from that obligation to the Author 
of our being. It is a casting away of the restraints 
and inspirations of the highest love, and a desire 
to find satisfaction in the lower realms. In its 
tendency sin is the assassin of God: sin hates God, 
would get away from God and. would get God 
away from where it is. It is impious and shocking 
in its very essence. 

5. Sin manifests itself in a wrong attitude 
towards men. The essence of sin is selfishness. 
It is that which puts, or wishes to put, self in 
every place of vantage and thrust others to places 
of disadvantage. Sin leads to wrong-doing upon 
the person of another, as in murder or assault; 
upon the property of another, as in robbing or 
cheating; upon the rights of another, as in an 
indifference to the conditions and circumstances 
making for his welfare or happiness. 

In the plan of God one man is not to wrong 



36 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

another, but he is to help another. He is not 
only to refrain from creating conditions which 
will harm another man, but he is under obligation 
to create or promote conditions which will help 
the other man. Failure to do this is sin. It is 
not only recreancy to God's law, but also robbery 
of the other man. Its shibboleth is, "Am I 
my brother's keeper?" It coldly and cruelly 
repudiates social obligation. It has the spirit 
of the priest and the Levite who, seeing the man 
who had fallen among thieves, went their way 
without so much as pitying him in his misery, 
much less rescuing him from his disaster. 

6. Sin manifests itself in a wrong attitude 
towards one's own powers. In order that man 
may have a part in the world's work God has 
endowed him with many powers. The exercising 
of these powers, both physical and mental, gives 
pleasure. It is necessary for a man to eat in 
order to have strength for his day's work, and there 
is pleasure in eating; but when eating is pursued 
for our pleasure, gluttony results, which is sin. 
Drinking for the pleasure of drinking and not to 
quench thirst, becomes intemperance and sin. 
Bodily exercise, not for necessary recreation or 
the discharge of duty, but solely for pleasure, is 
sin. That which is true of the physical powers 
is true of the mental powers. By this way bodies 
are wasted or subjected to disease, and the mind 
becomes enervated and debased. In taking a 
wrong attitude towards one's own powers, the sin- 
ner puts himself into wrong relations to the plan 
of God, to the injury of the world's work and 
the ruin of the soul of the man. 

7. This wrong relation to God has marked the 
history of mankind from the earliest ages. As 



THE FALL OF MAN 37 

far back as history is written the stream of evil 
has been flowing. As far back as the Scriptures 
take us the record shows the same evil conditions 
as those which affect the world today. There 
are traitors now: Judas was a traitor 1900 years 
ago. There are unfilial sons now: Absalom was 
an unfilial son 3000 years ago. There are liber- 
tines now: the sons of Eli were libertines more 
than 3000 years ago. There is bitter jealousy 
now: nearly 4000 years ago Joseph was sold into 
bondage by jealous men. There is violence and 
murder now: in the first human family there was 
violence and murder, 

8. Man was not in a wrong relation to God at 
the beginning. This is to say that God did not 
create a sinful man. On the other hand, that 
which God made is a man and not a great mechan- 
ical doll. To be perfect as a man it was neces- 
sary that the man whom God created should be 
more than a piece of mechanism whose activities 
were dependent on a force, a will or an intelligence, 
outside of itself. It is necessary that there reside 
in the man the power of choice. Having the 
power of choice man could choose obedience or 
disobedience, the way of harmony with the divine 
order, or the way of opposition to the divine order. 
And the wrong choice was made. It was a vol- 
untary choice. Voluntarily man departed from 
obedience to God. Thus departing he ceased to 
be the innocent being which God had made, 
and came to the knowledge of sin and of shame. 

9. Sin having tainted the human family the 
offspring of those who had been tainted were 
sinful. There was no going back to first con- 
ditions with the beginning of each life. The 
babe in the cradle was not a tiny Adam, as sin- 



38 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

less and pure as he was when he came from the 
hand of his Maker. Holiness, or wholeness, was 
no part of the people who were born. There was 
imperfection in every one. As families multi- 
plied this terrible fact became more apparent. 
Whether children in physical features resembled 
father or mother or some remote ancestor, or 
bore marks which had not appeared before, in 
every child there was the taint of sin. The her- 
itage of sinlessness came to no one. Not only 
was sinfulness common: it was universal. In 
all the world all were sinners. There was no 
exception, not one, until the Son of God appeared 
among men. 

10. This sin in the race and in every member 
of the race was not like a black stain upon a 
white cloth. It was not like rotten threads in 
a fabric otherwise strong and fine. There was 
more than a stain and more than weakness. There 
was a positive inclination to sin. There was the 
tendency to sinful choice. And the choices were 
voluntary. Men were not forced to take an evil 
path for which they had no taste and no desire. 
No external constraint thrust them into disobed- 
ience and wrongdoing. Had their wandering 
been of constraint the disobedience and wrong- 
doing would have been apparent only and not 
real. But it was more than this. It was real 
disobedience, the disobedience of those who, know- 
ing what was right, deliberately chose to do wrong, 
a disobedience of the heart and the hand and the 
foot, a disobedience which revealed that the in- 
side of the cup and platter as well the outside 
was unclean. 

11. There was responsibility for sin. That was 
because sin was voluntary. Those who were 



THE FALL OF MAN 39 

sinful by nature became much more so by prac- 
tice; and when sinful propensity leads to sinful 
choice and deed, the responsibility cannot be 
evaded. It cannot be evaded by saying that a 
tendency to sin was inherited from our parents. 
Let that be true, and our fathers must bear the 
blame of their sins; but they cannot be held ac- 
countable for sins to which their children volun- 
tarily turn. A man may be to blame for putting 
his child in an environment of evil, but if the 
child being in that environment goes contrary 
to what he knows to be right, and does what he 
knows to be wrong, for this, his own misdeed, he 
must be blamed. Nor can the responsibility be 
evaded by the claim that the evil tendency within 
the heart was met by a solicitation to evil from 
without. If a man were a mechanical toy then 
the blame for breaking the law would be upon 
those who brought force to bear upon it from 
without: but being a man, and able to make in- 
telligent choice, he is responsible for the choice 
which he makes. If he voluntarily chooses evil 
his responsibility is great. 

12. Those who, being sinners by nature, be- 
come much more so by practice, and take voluntari- 
ly to paths of wrong doing, are under the condemna- 
tion of the law of God. They have broken His 
law. They have acted in a hostile manner to- 
wards the Author of the law. They have done 
harm to others by act or example or both. They 
have done harm to themselves, debasing their 
own powers. If they were in a haphazard uni- 
verse all that might be allowed to pass without 
special notice. But they are in a universe where 
the moral order is determined and maintained by 
a wise and holy God. There is a perpetual court. 



40 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

Every hour a man is tried for the deeds done in 
the body. And those who have sinned are con- 
demned. This judgment has passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned. This then is the 
sad picture presented in the world; a whole race 
of sinners, every soul of whom is under the con- 
demnation of the law of God. 

13. Ruin follows in the wake of condemnation. 

"The soul that sinneth it shall die." Every- 
where the law of consequence obtains. Adam 
and Eve, having sinned, were banished from the 
garden of Eden. Cain, having sinned, became a 
fugitive upon the face of the earth. Moses, 
faithful in so much, yet having sinned, could not 
enter the promised land. Ananias and Sapphira, 
having sinned, must go to a dishonored burial. 
Clearly do these examples teach, clear and ex- 
plicit is the Word of God. In the life that now 
is, even though much of suffering and disaster 
may sometimes be escaped, penalty dogs the 
feet of transgression. But God does not settle 
all His accounts with a man in the autumn, or 
when the man is fifty, or sixty, or seventy. What- 
ever ill consequences follow sin in this life, the 
future is revealed as the time when consequences 
shall come to their complete measure. And there 
shall be no escape. Nor can there be any de- 
fence. The sinner, having voluntarily chosen 
sin, can make no effective plea before God for 
immunity from the consequences pf his own 
choice. 



THE FALL OF MAN 41 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER III. 

1. Where and among whom is sin found? 

2. Why does the Bible say much concerning 
sin? 

3. What is sin? 

4. How does sin manifest itself with respect 
to God? 

5. How does sin manifest itself with respect 
to men? 

6. How does sin manifest itself with respect to 
oneself? 

7. How far back in history can these manifes- 
tations be traced? 

8. How did man first come into wrong relations 
to the law of God? 

9. What was the effect of this upon his off- 
spring? 

10. What was the extent of the taint of sin 
in the individual? 

11. Why is there responsibility for sin if the 
propensity to sin has been inherited? 

12. Why is the sinner under condemnation? 

13. What follows the condemnation of the 
sinner? 



IV. OF THE WAY OF SALVATION. 

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace; 1 
through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God; 2 who by the 
appointment of the Father, freely took upon him our nature, 
yet without sin; 3 honored the divine law by his personal obedi- 
ence, 4 and by his death made a full atonement for our sins; 6 
that having risen from the dead he is now enthroned in heaven; 
6 and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest sympathies 
with divine perfections, he is every way qualified to be a suit- 
able, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Saviour. 7 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*Eph. 2: 8. By grace are ye saved. (Matt. 18: 11; 1 John 4: 10; 1 Cor. 3: 5. 
7; Acts 15: 11.) 

2 John 3: 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
(John 1: 1-14; Heb. 4: 14; 12: 24.) 

'Phil. 2: 6, 7. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men. (Heb. 2: 9, 14; 2 Cor. 5: 21.) 

4 Isa. 42: 21. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magni- 
fy the law, and make it honorable. (Phil. 2 : 8; Gal. 4: 4, 5; Rom. 3: 21.) 

*Isa. 53: 4, 5. ... He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for 
our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes 
we are healed. (Matt. 20 :28; Rom. 4: 25; 3: 21-26; 1 John 4: 10; 2: 2; 1 Cor. 
15: 1-3; Heb. 9: 13-15.) 

6 Heb. 1:8. Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever. 
(Heb. 1:3; 8:1; Col. 3:1-4.) 

7 Heb. 7: 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Col. 2: 9. 
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Heb. 2: 18. In that 
he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. 
(Heb. 7: 26; Pa. 89: 19; Ps. 34.) 

42 



THE WAY OF SALVATION. 

i. Salvation is the state of being saved. 

He is saved who has been removed from the evil 
or dangers which threatened him. The common 
Bible use of the word salvation relates to moral 
and spiritual things. There is a salvation from 
broken bones, from loss of property, from loss 
of friends. But this is not the salvation the Bible 
talks about. The Bible talks about salvation 
from breaking the divine law and from the conse- 
quences of its breaking. 

This salvation deals with what a man is as well 
as with what he does. A saved man is a man who 
is changed within himself. He is changed in 
respect to God. He is saved from the power of 
sin: that is a change within him. He is saved 
from the consequences of sin; that looks beyond 
him as well as within him. Salvation from the 
power of sin has to do with the present. Salva- 
tion from the consequences of sin has to do with 
all that follows the present hour both in time and 
in eternity. Salvation changes a man's charac- 
ter. It changes also his prospects. 

2. Man being in sin is not able to save himself. 

He lacks inclination. To save himself he would 
need to incline specifically and always towards 
righteousness. But his inclinations do not turn 
only and always towards righteousness. 

He lacks power. Even if his inclinations were 
good and only good he could not conquer the 
forces of evil which assail him. He could not 
cease to commit sin. He could not master tempt- 
tation of every form and at every turn. Myriads 
have tiried. Myriads have failed. 

He lacks merit. Even if he never sinned again 

43 



44 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

there would remain the old wound. There are 
sins of the past. For them there must be atone- 
ment. It does not lie in the power of a man to 
supply a surplus of present merit to the payment 
of the old debt. There is no surplus of present 
merit. Even if the man were living perfectly, 
sufficient unto this day, and only unto this day, 
is the merit thereof. It is clearly impossible for 
any man to save himself. 

3. Salvation is by the grace of God. It orig- 
inates in no other heart. It proceeds from no 
other source. Its quality is divine. It is only 
divine. 

Grace is unmerited favor. Salvation is favor. 
And salvation is unmerited. Sin is not an acci- 
dent happening to the good: it is the guilt of the 
rebellious. It is not the pain of the meritorious, 
but the wickedness of the guilty. The sinful 
man if not saved, will come upon no greater evil 
than he has himself chosen and pursued. To 
save him from evils which he has chosen, merited 
and pursued, is therefore a work to which God is 
not compelled by necessity, nor driven by any 
law of justice, but impelled solely by His great 
heart of grace. 

4. A man needs to be saved from sins of im- 
pulse and from sins of deliberation. A sin of 
impulse is the sin which follows a sudden, un- 
thinking response to temptation. In the case of 
deliberate sin there has been time given to the 
consideration, and a decision reached to do the 
evil thing. The sin of impulse shows that the 
flesh is weak, that a corrupt nature has never been 
brought under the control of the will. The sin 
of deliberation shows not only that the flesh is 
weak, and the nature corrupt, but that the will 



THE WAY OF SALVATION 45 

also is depraved. The sin of impulse is real sin: 
it is followed by guilt; it is menaced by terrible 
consequences. The sin of deliberation is real 
sin: it is followed by guilt: it is menaced by ter- 
rible consequences. 

Whatever may be said of the degrees of guilti- 
ness in respect to these two kinds of sin, from each 
kind there must be deliverance if the penalty of 
breaking God's law is to be escaped. Whatever 
the kind or degree or measure of a man's sin, he 
needs salvation from the power of sin. He needs 
also salvation from the guilt of sin. 

5. Salvation comes by the Son of God, All as- 
pects of salvation come by him. The man who 
is saved from the violence and folly of impulsive 
sin is saved by the self-control gained by his re- 
lation to the Son of God. The man who is saved 
from the iniquity and depravity of deliberate sin 
is saved by the purity of heart and motive gained 
by the cleansing grace of the Son of God. The 
man who is saved from the terrible guilt of rebel- 
lion against God is saved by the atoning mercy 
of the Son of God. The man who is saved from 
the future penalty of sin, and made an heir of 
everlasting blessedness, receives this salvation 
from the Son of God. At every point, in all re- 
lations, the Son of God is the Saviour of men; 
and there is no other name under heaven given 
among men whereby we can be saved. Salvation 
is not a plant that grows in earthly fields: it comes 
down to the earth from heaven, brought by the 
Son of the living God. 

6. The Son of God became the Saviour of 
men by the choice and consent of the Father. 
There were no variant opinions within the God- 
head when the Son of God emptied himself of 



46 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

the glory of heaven that he might become the 
Saviour of the world. The compassion of the 
Son was the compassion of the Father. The 
merciful purpose of the one was the merciful pur- 
pose of the other. " God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten Son." "God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." The 
young man who offers his life to his country when 
the service to which he goes may result in death 
loves his country: not less does the mother of 
this young man, who sends him forth with her 
blessing, love her country. The Father and the 
Son are one; not only one in their nature, but also 
in their relation of love and grace towards men. 
Contemplating Jesus on the cross we may sing, 

"For me these pangs his soul assail, 
For me this death is borne, 

My sin gave sharpness to the nail, 
And pointed every thorn." 

But our thoughts must not stay on Calvary. 
Our thoughts must climb to heaven, to the Father 
on His throne of mercy, to Him who so loved the 
world that He gave his Son to the humiliation and 
agony of the cross. 

7. The Son of God, that He might become the 
Saviour of men, became the Son of man. 
Though he had been in the form of God, it was 
in the form of man that he was seen on the earth. 
He, the Word, or Logos, became flesh and dwelt 
among men. This holy, divine Spirit whose home 
was in the heavens of God, became incarnate, 
and lived the life of a man. 

He lived as an unprivileged man. He was born 
in the home of the poor. He lived with toilers 
as one of themselves. No servant sprang to do 



THE WAY OF SALVATION 47 

his bidding when he was a child. No strong 
shoulders were offered to bear his burdens when 
he had grown to manhood. No powerful friends 
came forward to shield him when the authorities 
of the nation were bent on his destruction. Nor 
did he use his divine power to avert catastrophe 
from himself. The angels that would have come 
at his bidding were not called. The powers 
that would have hurled back his foes were not 
employed. He identified himself with the im- 
potence of men as well as with the nature of men, 
that he might be in deed and in truth the Son 
of man. 

8. Though the Son of God became very man 
he differed from every other man in one respect: 
he did not sin. He was of flesh and blood. He 
knew weariness, heartache and trouble. He was 
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He 
knew temptation also. He was tempted at all 
points like as we are. He was tempted in boy- 
hood. He was tempted in youth. He was tempted 
in manhood. He was tempted as no other man 
has been tempted. His moral overthrow was 
sought relentlessly by all the powers of darkness. 
But he was without sin. His victory was com- 
plete: at no point did he fail. And it was sub- 
lime: no such moral victory had before been won. 
If Adam had maintained his innocence in the 
garden of Eden the victory would not have been 
so great as the victory of Jesus Christ; for the 
second Adam, Jesus Christ, became a quickening 
spirit. Adam means man. The first man was 
called Adam, man, because of his pre-eminence 
among living things on the earth. Jesus was 
called the second Adam, or man, because of his 
moral pre-eminence among all living things, 
men included. 



48 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

9. The Son of man obeyed the law of God 
perfectly. That means more than that he re- 
sisted evil when evil assayed him. He gave also 
a positive and purposed obedience to the law of 
God. He obeyed that law in its universal fea- 
tures. He obeyed it also in those particulars 
which were incumbent upon him in the place 
in life into which he was born. He obeyed the 
law which God had commanded to the Jewish 
people, for he was one of that people. He obeyed 
the law as it related to sons, for he was the son 
of Mary. He obeyed the law as it related to his 
people as in vassalage to Rome: he taught that 
unto Caesar those things should be given which 
belonged to Caesar, and refused to become a polit- 
ical revolutionist. He put honor upon the or- 
dinances of the Jewish law. He honored the 
Sabbath. He exalted the Temple at Jerusalem. 
In the village synagogue where the Scriptures 
were read and the law of God expounded there 
was none so reverent and devoted as he. 

10. Jesus did more than obey the law as re- 
vealed through Moses. He obeyed a higher 
law. He obeyed the eternal thought of the eter- 
nal God. His obedience to that higher law, which 
transcended all law known or given or honored 
on earth, took him to Calvary. He was obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross. He was 
obedient unto death that he might be obedient 
to that law of redeeming mercy which was in the 
very nature of God. In Gethsemane he cried, 
"Not my will, but thine, be done:" it was obedi- 
ence to the will of his Father. On the cross He 
prayed, " Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do;" it was obedience to the higher 
law of self-sacrificing mercy. In his obedience 
unto death he made atonement for man. 



THE WAY OF SALVATION 49 

ii. By his resurrection from the dead Jesus 
the Son of man demonstrated his power over 
death and the grave. In this he gave proof of 
his power over the penalty of sin. Earlier he 
had demonstrated his power over sin itself, by 
living a perfectly sinless life. Each of these 
victories was necessary. His perfect life might 
show qualification as a Saviour from sin. But 
that would not show power to deliver from the 
consequences of sin already committed. His 
resurrection showed qualification as a Saviour 
from the effects of sin. With his sinless life before 
the cross and his resurrection after the cross, his 
sufferings gain significance. They are seen in 
the light of his redeeming purpose. They are 
known to be effective and sufficient. 

12. He who was revealed on earth as a Saviour 
is now enthroned in heaven as a mediator. 
From heaven he came, to heaven he went. He 
was with the Father before the world was: "In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God." Then came 
the incarnation, when, emptied of heavenly power 
and glory, he lived and suffered as a man. The 
consummation of his earthly life came in his 
death, resurrection and ascension. And he is 
now at God's right hand, where he ever liveth 
to make intercession for us. Of teaching he did 
all that needed to be done. As an example of 
perfect righteousness he did all that needed to be 
done. As a deliverer, manifesting his power to 
save from all ills, he did all that needed to be done. 
As a redeemer, dying on the cross, the righteous 
for the unrighteous, he did all that needed to 
be done. As a victor, demonstrating his power 
to conquer death, he did all that needed to be 



SO WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

done. But he has not withdrawn from his saving 
work. He is continually and vitally our Saviour 
now, and is able to save even unto the utter- 
most. 

13. The Son of man having ascended on high, 
leading captivity captive and giving gifts unto 
men, is restored now to the life which he had 
with his Father before the world was. He is 
no longer in the form of a servant. No longer is 
he in the status to which he set himself apart 
when he emptied himself of heavenly glory for 
the sake of men. He is again clothed with glory. 
And in such a character, radiant, glorious, mighty, 
John beheld him in the vision of Patmos. He 
who was dead is alive forevermore. He who hung 
upon a cross is seated now on a throne of glory 
and He who died in unspeakable agony has seen 
of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied. 

14. He who ever liveth to make intercession 
for man is competent. He knows about men. 
He is God, but He is the God-man. He has been 
tempted in all points like as we are. He has 
known hunger and thirst and cold. He has known 
loneliness and friendlessness and persecution. 
He has known the onset of evil. He has seen dis- 
ease and mourning and despair. From the stand- 
point of a citizen he has seen iniquity in high 
places and oppression stalking abroad like a beast 
of prey. He has suffered and walked by the side 
of the suffering. He has been hated and has 
espoused the cause of the hated. He knows 
us altogether. This is our great High Priest, 
who, because he was man, can be touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities. This is our gracious, 
victorious, mighty, eternal Saviour, Son of God 
and Son of man. 



THE WAY OF SALVATION 5 1 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IV. 

i. What is the meaning of salvation in the 
Bible sense? 

2. Give three reasons why a man cannot save 
himself. 

3. What does " salvation by the grace of God" 
mean? 

4. Distinguish between sins of impulse and 
sins of deliberation. 

5. How does salvation come to us? 

6. What part had God the Father in the work 
of redemption? 

7. What condescension did the Son of God 
show? 

8. In what particular did Jesus differ from every 
other man? 

9. How did Jesus show his obedience to law? 

10. What was his obedience to the higher law? 

11. How did Jesus show his full qualification 
to be a Saviour? 

12. What has been his relation to the salvation 
of men since his ascension? 

13. To what honor was he exalted on his re- 
turn to heaven? 

14. By what variety of experience d'd he be- 
come qualified as our High Priest? 



V. OF JUSTIFICATION. 

We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ 1 
secures to such as believe in him is Justification; 2 that Jus- 
tification includes the pardon of sin, 3 and the promise of eter- 
nal life on principles of righteousness; 4 that it is bestowed, 
not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we 
have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemers blood; 6 
by virtue of which faith his perfect righteousness is freely 
imputed to us of God; 6 that it brings us into a state of most 
blessed peace and favor with God, and secures every other 
blessing needful for time and eternity. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

JJohn 1: 16. Of his fulness have all we received. (Eph 3: 8.) 

2 Acts 13:39. By him all that believe are justified from all things. (Isa. 53: 
11, 12; Rom. 8: 1.) 

3 Rom. 5: 9. Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath 
through him. (Zech. 13: 1; Matt. 9: 6; Acts 10: 43.) 

4 Rom. 5: 17. They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of right- 
eousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. (Titus 3 : 5-7 ; 1 Peter 3 : 7 ; 1 John 
2:25; Rom 5:21.) 

6 Rom. 4: 4, 5. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, 
but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth 
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Rom. 5:21; 6: 23; Phil. 
3: 7-9.) 

6 Rom. 5:19. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom. 
3: 24-26; 4: 23-25; 1 John 2: 12.) 

Rom. 5: 1, 2. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith unto this grace wherein 
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rom. 5: 3. We glory in tribu- 
lations also. Rom. 5:11. We also joy in God. (1 Cor. 1 : 30, 31; Matt. 6: 33; 
1 Tim. 4: 8.) 

52 



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH. 

i. If there were no standard of righteous- 
ness there would be no occasion for justification. 

Justification, in the Bible or out of it, presupposes 
that there is a standard by which things or per- 
sons can be tested and into line with which they 
can or ought to be brought. For example, in 
printing the type is said to be " justified" when 
it is brought into line with other type. That 
other type is already in the right line. To make 
the type which is out of line conform with that 
which is in line is to bring it to a certain stan- 
dard. When it is taken out of the wrong line 
and put into the right line, it is said to be "jus- 
tified." Now a man who is condemned by the 
law of God is on the wrong line. That is not 
where God wants him to be. 

While he is there he cannot have from God the 
blessings which God wants him to have. Be- 
fore he can become the recipient of the blessed- 
ness which is provided for righteous men, he must 
be justified. There must be an end to his con- 
demnation. There must be an authoritative 
publication of the fact that the law has nothing 
against him. All charges, accusations and com- 
plaints against him as a sinner, a doer of wicked- 
ness, a breaker of God's law, of whatever kind 
aud from whatever source, must have been met 
and disposed of wholly. There must be no one 
on the earth and no one in heaven who can show 
that this man ought to pay any penalty because 
of anything he has done or has failed to do. < 

2. To procure iustification for sinful men was 
the purpose of Christ's work. For that he wrought 
and taught, lived, loved, suffered, died, rose from 

53 



54 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

the dead, ascended to heaven. From all this 
the difficulty of the work may be inferred. Ten 
strong men are not sent to lift a baby over a 
straw. The fact that when it was sought to 
make justification possible, all men were passed 
by, and all angels, and that the Son of God was 
chosen for this task, may show the immensity 
and diffiulty of providing a way by which sin- 
ful man can be justified. And this also, taken 
with the greatness of Christ's toils and suffer- 
ings as he performed this mission, may indicate 
something of the value of justification. When 
in the garden the baby toddles to the mother with 
a gift, it may be a flower or a bit of straw; but 
when the mother gives the baby a present it 
has value. When the Son of God, at the expense 
of humiliation and suffering, procures a gift, it 
may be set down at once without examination 
as a great gift. When it is remembered that to 
procure this gift the incarnation was necessary, 
the glory of the gift may be inferred. 

3. The justification which Christ procures for 
the sinner includes the pardon of his sins. This 
means that the score against him is wiped out. 
It does not mean that there never was a score 
against him. The fact that the man has sinned 
is not changed, but the fact that the sin is fol- 
lowed by penalty is changed so far as he is con- 
cerned. The three Hebrew worthies were cast 
into a burning fiery furnace. That was one fact. 
Men cast into a burning fiery furnace burn. 
That was a second fact. But God came to the 
rescue of these three men, and they not only 
escaped death, but when they came out from the 
furnace there was not so much as the smell of 
fire upon them. God's coming to their rescue 



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH 55 

did not change the fact that they had been cast 
into the burning fiery furnace, but it did change 
the second fact so far as they were concerned. 
And so Christ's coming to a man to procure for 
him justification does not change the fact that 
the man has sinned, nor does it excuse his sins, 
nor does it diminish the wickedness of them; 
but it does make a change in respect to conse- 
quences. And therefore it comes to pass that a 
man who has been condemned by the law of God 
because of his sins may be set free from this con- 
demnation and be in no more danger of punish- 
ment than if he had never sinned. This is what 
pardon as a part of the blessing of justification 
means. 

4. Justification includes assurance of eternal 
blessedness when this life is over. When the 
printer's type is "justified" there is nothing to 
show that the type was ever on the wrong line; 
and, more than that, all printing in the future 
from this type will be on right lines. It is as if 
there had never been crookedness or misplace- 
ment. There is, also, a future as well as a pres- 
ent for the justified sinner. By the pardon of 
his sins he is put into right relation to God's 
law. It is as if he had never been guilty. But 
that is not all. There is something in the future 
for one who has never been guilty. Besides not 
going to prison the son of a king goes to the palace. 
And so with the justified sinner: besides escaping 
penalty by reason of pardon, he is also in the line 
of blessedness. As a sinner he was in a path the 
end of which is the prison house of eternal dark- 
ness. As a justified sinner he is in a path the end 
of which is the palace of eternal blessedness. Jus- 
tification translates him from the one path to the 



56 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

other path. Justification, then, is more than 
pardon: it is the assurance also of blessedness 
and glory. 

5. Justification is given on principles of right- 
eousness. It is not the arbitrary gift of an un- 
thinking generosity. It is not the result of a 
careless caprice. It is not an act of a wayward 
fancy. There is in it nothing of favoritism. It 
represents the wisdom of God and the justice 
of God as well as His great goodness. Behind 
the justification of any and every sinner there is 
a reason. There is sufficient reason. And this 
reason is sufficient in the courts of heaven. It is 
sufficient where law is more perfect than anywhere 
else in the universe. It is satisfactory where the 
standards are more exact than anywhere else in 
the universe. This reason is satisfactory to God, 
and is sufficient when tested by the perfections 
of the justice of His eternal government. 

There is here more than compassion, more than 
mercy, more than goodness. With compassion, 
mercy and goodness there is the strictest regard 
for justice. There is an exaltation of righteous- 
ness. The man who has sinned, and, having 
met now the conditions on which justification has 
been provided for him, has been justified, not only 
has received this gift according to the principles 
of righteousness, but if it were not bestowed upon 
him the eternal law of righteousness would be 
violated. 

6. Justification is not bestowed on the basis 
of the good works done by the sinful man. When 
a man has been justified his good works count. 
They count in the realm of rewards. Paul taught 
that there would be reward for the saved man 
whose works were as good as gold, while there 



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH 57 

would be no reward if the works were as worthless 
as stubble. Jesus taught that there would be 
wages for the servant who worked. But this is 
another matter. When a man who has been in 
prison is set free, and goes to his own bit of land 
and cultivates it, all that he raises is his. But 
if while in prison he cultivates a bit of the jail 
garden, by permission of the jailer, he cannot 
demand to be set free on the ground that his 
labor has resulted in a fine crop of vegetables. 

Something like this is true of the sinner. The 
best works he can do now are no more and no 
better than the works he ought to do now. When 
he has done his best the present obligation only 
is met, and there is nothing left over to pay the 
old deficit. But more than this, that which is 
past is sin. And when sin has been committed 
there is a broken law to be dealt with. The fact 
that a guilty man is not breaking the law now does 
not change the fact that he broke it at another 
time. All this is positively and emphatically 
taught in the New Testament. The fact that 
justification cannot be won by works even in 
efforts of Christian service and obedience, is one 
of the teachings of Christianity which make it 
different from every other religion which the world 
has ever known. 

7. Justification comes to men by the way of 
faith. "The just shall live by faith." Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, is the object of that 
faith by means of which a man is justified. " He 
that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: 
but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see 
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." 

What faith is we shall see later. It will be 
sufficient now to grasp the fact that while a man 



58 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

cannot be justified by the way of his works, he 
can be justified by the way of his faith. God is 
just in justifying the sinner who believes in Jesus. 
In the redemption accomplished by Christ it 
has been provided that, without any violation of 
the principles of righteousness upon which God 
has founded His universe, justification may be 
bestowed upon the man who believes in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. We may be able to comprehend 
only in part how this can be. It is a very sublime 
matter, wonderful, glorious, God-like; we need 
not be surprised or dismayed if we cannot under- 
stand it fully. Enough for us to know the fact. 
It does not diminish our enjoyment of peaches 
because we cannot understand how the peach 
tree in our garden puts more sweetness into the 
fruits that form on its branches than the grape- 
vine puts into its juicy clusters. It is ours to 
take the peaches and the grapes and the justi- 
fication which God bestows; to understand them 
if we can, but, whether we understand or not, 
to take them and rejoice in all the blessing of 
them. 

8. Justification by faith in Jesus Christ is 
based upon the relation which Jesus sustains to 
those who believe in him. It is an intimate 
relation. There is nothing like it among men. 
There is nothing like it, so far as revelation shows, 
among angels. Jesus is a part of humanity just 
as truly as he is a part of Deity. All that belongs 
to Deity is his. That which belongs to God is 
his. That which is his belongs to God. And that 
which is his belongs to redeemed man. He took 
the sins of men upon himself that thereby he might 
make a way by which the blessings which men 
had forfeited might return to them. These riches 



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH 59 

have become his due. To him they belong as 
the Son of man. They belong to him because he 
was sinless in character and sufficient in merit. 

Belonging to him they belong to all who in 
the mystery of his being are one with him. They 
belong to those who open the door when he cried, 
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock," and who 
sup with him and he with them. They belong 
to everyone who believes on him. This faith is 
the linking of the soul of the man to the sufficiency 
of the Son of man. It is the admitting of Christ 
to the confidence, sympathy, love and devotion 
of the inner place of the heart and the secret sources 
of the everyday life. And where Jesus enters 
he carries the riches of what he is and has. Those 
who believe sustain to him a relationship so real, 
intimate, divine, eternal that they are reckoned 
with him, and his status as a man becomes their 
status. In a word, his justification becomes 
their justification, his righteousness their right- 
eousness. 

9. By justification through faith in Jesus Christ 
one becomes conscious of His acceptance with 
God. From this consciousness of God's good 
will there proceeds a sense of security and peace. 
Dislike of His presence, and hostility to His guid- 
ing and restraining care, disappear. Being jus- 
tified the man is not afraid of the law, and has 
no reason to be afraid of the Law-giver; he is 
not afraid of the consequences of his offences, 
and has no reason to be afraid of the Judge. 
This deliverance having come to man wholly by 
the grace of God through Jesus Christ the Son 
of God, he has abundant reason to think of God 
with loving trust, grateful devotion and kindling 
joy. He knows that God's attitude towards him 



6o WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

is that of grace; he knows that his attitude to- 
wards God must be that of gratitude. He knows 
that God appreciates him as a restored son; he 
knows that he is in his Father's presence as a 
forgiven wanderer, who on his return home has 
met a father's welcome, forgiveness, joy and re- 
instatement. With such an" experience of the 
grace of God his relations to Him are marked by 
filial dutifulness, loyalty and love. 

10. The blessings of justification, then, be- 
long to the present as well as the future. The 
justified man enters at once into the life of the 
redeemed. He will be a redeemed man in 
heaven: he is a redeemed man now. He will 
have the riches of life eternal when he has entered 
into the world which lies beyond this world: he 
has the riches of life eternal now. He will be a 
son of God when he sings among the angels: he 
is already a son of God through faith in Jesus 
Christ. 

Justification does not wait to go into effect until 
some great future judgment day: it goes into 
effect immediately. The man may still have fears 
and fightings within and without; but he is a 
justified man in the sight of God's law. He may 
carry burdens that weary him, he may receive 
wounds that pain him, he may attempt tasks that 
baffle him, he may be driven from hill to valley 
and valley to hill on the great battle field of life ; 
but in it all and through it all he is on the way 
to the eternal triumph which is assured to the 
man who by the faith which is in Jesus our Lord 
has received the pardon of his sins. He has 
the assurance of blessedness after the struggle 
of the battle is over, and is living now in relations 
of loving reconciliation to his heavenly father. 



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH 6l 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER V. 

i. What is it to be justified? 

2. How is the greatness of the gift of justifi- 
cation indicated? 

3. What does pardon, as a part of justification, 
mean? 

4. What does assurance, as a part of justifica- 
tion, mean? 

5. Show how justification is in harmony with 
righteousness. 

6. Why can a man not be justified by good 
works? 

7. If not by works by what can a man be 
justified? 

8. Upon what is justification based? 

9. Of what relation to God is the man who is 
justified conscious? 

10. When do the blessings of justification come 
to a man? 



VI. OF THE FREENESS OF SALVATION. 

We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free to 
all by the gospel; 1 that it is the immediate duty of all to accept 
them by a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith; 2 and that 
nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth 
but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the 
gospel; 3 which rejection involves him in an aggravated con- 
demnation. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

ilsa. 55:1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Rev. 22: 17. 
Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Luke 14 : 17.) 

2 Rom. 16:25, 26. My gospel . . . according to the commandment of the ever- 
lasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. (Mark 1: 15; 
Rom. 1:15-17.) 

3 John 5 : 40. Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (Matt. 23: 27; 
Rom. 9:32; Provi 1:24; Acts 13:46.) 

*John 3: 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, 
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (Matt 
11: 20; Luke 19: 27; 2 Thess. 1:8.) 

62 



THE FREENESS OF SALVATION. 

i. Salvation is proclaimed by the gospel. The 

word God and the word good come from the same 
root. God is the good. And in the first syllable 
of the word gospel we have a trace of the same root 
word. It means good there also. And the sec- 
ond syllable means tidings. Gospel therefore 
is good tidings. These good tidings come from God. 
And the things concerning which the good tidings tell 
come from God. Many things which we find good 
come from Him. This solid earth comes from Him; 
but the gospel tells of something better than this 
solid earth. The air which encompasses us, the 
water which slakes our thirst and the food which 
satisfies our hunger, come from Him. But there 
is something better than air and water and 
bread. Bread may mould, water may fail, air 
may become polluted, this solid earth may be 
shaken by earthquakes, or devastated by tempests, 
or scorched by the sun, or desolated by the bitter 
cold. But that great thing from God of which 
the gospel tells is the same yesterday, today and 
forever. God's greatest gift to man, greater than 
bread or water or air or earth, is salvation by 
Jesus Christ His Son. When salvation is an- 
nounced that announcement becomes the gospel, 
pre-eminently the good tidings. Just as the name 
of Jesus is above every name that can be named, 
so the tidings which we call the gospel are above 
all other tidings which can be told. 

2. These tidings of salvation are intended to 
be proclaimed to all. That is one reason why 
they are good tidings. When the poor man hears 
the message the rich man cannot say, "Here is 
one great and good thing which I cannot have 

63 



64 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

though I am rich;" nor can the poor man say, 
"Here is a great and good thing which I cannot 
have because I am poor." The black man can- 
not say, "The message is not for me because my 
skin is not white," nor the white man, "This 
message is not for me because I have other priv- 
ileges." 

It is a message for people of every degree or 
possession; for no matter what else a man has he 
needs this. It is a message for every race, for 
it comes from the God who made and watches 
over all men. It is a message for the privileged 
and the unprivileged: for whatever a man's 
wealth or rank or fame he needs it; whatever his 
happiness or misery, his victories or defeats, he 
needs it; whatever his youth or age, his health or 
sickness, his knowledge or ignorance, he needs it. 
And the great and loving Father who pours His 
sunlight upon all the grasses and plants, the shrubs 
and trees, the worms and insects and reptiles, 
upon beasts and birds of field and forest, sends the 
gospel of salvation to all men of whatever kind or 
condition. 

3. This message of salvation has a meaning 
for all to whom it comes. It is not merely the 
music of a pleasant word. This pleasant word so 
full of the music of invitation and promise is a 
word of meaning. Were it not so it would be a 
mocking word, a torturing word, a will-o'-the- 
wisp leading the traveller by its pleasant light 
into the dreadful swamps of despair. It is not a 
message concerning a good which is lost forever, 
but of a good which may be attained. It lies 
before men, not behind them. But it is not a 
message of a good which lies far in the distant 
future, behind great mountains which must be 



THE FREENESS OF SALVATION 6.5 

climbed, beyond broad, swift, unbridged rivers 
which must be crossed, hidden within dense 
forests which must be penetrated, surrounded by 
fierce dragons which must be slain: it is a message 
of a good which is just at hand, on this side of the 
mountain, the forest and the river. It is within 
reach of the trembling hand of age, and the tiny 
hand of the child. It is within call of him who 
can whisper only. And its meaning for the weak 
is as real as its meaning for the strong. It is 
an honest message, which fronts every man with- 
out deceit, or vagueness, or elusiveness, or un- 
certainty. It says " Whosoever will, let him take 
the water of life freely." 

4. It is the duty of every one who hears the 
offer of salvation to accept the proffered good. 
Duty is that which is due. It is that which is 
owed. A man owes it to himself to accept salva- 
tion. He ought, that is, he owes it, not to press 
wilfully forward in the path which leads to eternal 
ruin. Self-debasement and self-destruction are 
gigantic wrongs against one's self. But there 
is Another to whom he owes it to accept salva- 
tion. That is God. He owes obedience to God. 
And God has commanded men to hear His Son; 
and the Son calls all men to himself. 

He owes gratitude to God also. He owes the 
gratitude which appreciates what God has done 
to save his soul and shows that appreciation by 
accepting the gift which God has provided at 
such cost of labor and pain. That which is 
offered is good. It is the greatest good. It 
is the costliest good. It can come by no other 
way. There is no substitute. He who casts 
aside this salvation casts aside all salvation. 
Therefore it is the duty of every one to accept 
when the offer is made. 



66 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

5. He who receives this salvation receives it 
by faith. It is not received as dust in the roadway 
receives rain, simply by being beneath the area 
above which the cloud floats when it precipitates 
its showers. Men who do no more to get salva- 
tion than the roadway does to get water wait 
for it in vain. 

It is not received by works. There is a key 
which unlocks the bank, another which unlocks 
the writing desk. Each is a good key, but neither 
is of use in the lock for which the other was made. 
Works do not constitute the key which unlocks 
the door of salvation. Works belong to the saved 
life. He who has received the gift of salvation 
gives evidence of it by righteousness, gentleness 
and reverence. Because he is saved he exhibits 
good works; but he is not saved by his good works. 
Salvation comes to us only by faith. That is 
the one condition within us on which it is be- 
stowed. Neither his own worth or works, nor 
his sufferings, will save a man. By faith he lays 
hold of the salvation procured for him by the 
worth, the works and the sufferings of Jesus 
Christ. 

6. In this faith there is obedience. At every 
point there is obedience. By obedience the man 
takes Jesus Christ as the object of his faith. By 
obedience he puts his trust in him wholly. By 
obedience he follows in the way worked out for 
the disciple as he enters upon and follows the 
life of faith. 

This obedience of faith is a submission of the 
man's will to a higher will. It is a submission of 
his ideas, opinions and preferences to a higher 
authority. And that submission is to God. It 
is God who calls him to believe: when he believes 



THE FREENESS OF SALVATION 67 

he is obeying God. It is God who puts Jesus 
Christ before him as the object of his faith: 
when he believes Jesus Christ he is obeying God. 
It is God who requires that he submit to Jesus 
Christ as both Lord and Saviour: when, having 
taken Christ at his word in respect to the for- 
giveness of the sins that are past, he straightway 
begins to obey him as Master, he is obeying God. 

Faith is more than an impulse of emotion, a 
direction of thought, a fleeting preference of the 
will: it is a relation to Jesus Christ in which the 
spirit of obedience has taken possession of the 
citadel of the soul. 

7. Faith does not act alone. It is bound up 
in a bundle of life with other things. A man 
can walk alone, but his heart cannot beat alone. 
If his lungs are inactive his heart will be inactive 
also. If his veins and arteries are clogged his 
heart cannot do business. If his head is taken 
off his heart empties itself of life and is still for- 
ever. Obedience is one of the things which is 
found wrapped in the bundle with faith. Peni- 
tence is another. The man who has sinned, and 
does not care, cannot exercise faith. The man 
who has broken God's law, and intends to go on 
breaking it whenever he wants to, cannot exercise 
faith. The man who loves iniquity and ^vants to 
love it, who has nestled it in his heart arid means 
to do so, cannot exercise faith. If you call faith 
a bucket which is let down into the well of sal- 
vation to bring up water to the soul, obedience 
may be reckoned the bottom of the bucket and 
penitence the hoops which hold the staves in their 
place. If either is lacking the bucket will not 
hold water. Therefore it happens that wherever 
you find faith you find also sorrow for sin and the 



68 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

spirit of loving obedience to the commands of 
God. 

8. Faith belongs to the heart and not to the 
intellect only. If it belonged only to the in- 
tellect its relation to salvation would not be so 
apparent. Out of the heart are the issues of life. 
Correctness of belief will save no man: there 
must be correctness of desires. Correct belief 
may give right direction to desires, may point 
unerringly to the proper object of faith; but it 
is the heart which lays hold on Christ when he 
is seen, and finds that salvation which he has 
freely provided for all who put their trust in him. 

Because this is so the freeness of salvation is 
the more apparent. If salvation were only for 
those who can think strongly, what would the 
weakling do? If only those who had acquired 
knowledge could be saved, where would the ig- 
norant and untaught appear? But this is not 
so. It is from the heart that faith proceeds. 
And the heart can desire, long, love, trust even 
though the intellect be weak or knowledge scanty. 

9. The man who is unsaved is unsaved be- 
cause of his own fault. God has done all things 
for man's salvation. In the house of David a 
fountain has been opened for sin and for unclean- 
ness: to every man there comes the word, "Let 
him wash and be clean." And in a figure this 
shows what God by the gift of Jesus Christ has 
done for the whole world. Jesus Christ is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but 
also for the whole world. And He who spared 
not His own Son, is now not willing that any 
should perish but desires that all shall come to 
repentance. The lighthouse on the headland is 
the government's notice that it is not willing that 



THE FREENESS OF SALVATION 69 

the seamen should perish: the cross on Calvary 
is God's notice to the ages that He is not willing 
that men should perish. And to the men for 
whom Christ died the gospel is sent. Far and 
wide it is carried. The invitation of mercy is 
pressed upon the hearts of men. 

10. The man who is unsaved is unsaved be- 
cause of his own fault and not because of mis- 
fortune. To be spiritually lost does not proceed 
from bad luck; it proceeds from a bad heart. 
When salvation is not gained it is because it 
has been rejected. That rejection is not forced 
but voluntary. Kings have sometimes been 
compelled to surrender their crowns, but no man 
is compelled to refuse the crown of life. Men 
have sometimes been forced to decline official 
honors offered them by the votes of others, but 
no one is forced to decline the honor of sonship 
in the family of God. If a man loses the crown 
of life it is because he casts it away when offered 
to him by Jesus Christ. If he fails of adoption 
into the family of God it is because his heart 
turns with desire to other affinities. It is because 
voluntarily he chooses hostility to God's law, 
opposition to God's person, and disregard of 
God's grace. 

11. The condition of salvation offends the 
unsaved man because his heart and will are 
depraved. 

His heart is depraved: it does not desire first 
of all and wholly the purity that belongs to God 
and God's law. It desires many evil things. It 
turns easily to impure, vain, proud, vengeful, 
envious, cruel or selfish thoughts. It pushes the 
soul towards self-indulgence, pleasure and gain 
without due regard to the moral questions in- 
volved in such pursuit. 



70 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

His will is depraved. It does not quickly and 
resolutely determine that what God forbids shall 
be shunned and whatHe commands shall be sought 
There is a peculiar hesitancy when confronting 
great moral decisions. There is irresolution when 
no excuse can be given for irresolution. 

Until the Spirit of God acts upon the heart, 
making desire seek Jesus Christ, and upon the 
will, making decision fasten to him, the soul 
continues in rebellion: and where this rebellion 
is salvation cannot come. Salvation is reached 
by the way of submission to a holy God and 
Saviour. 

12. By this rejection of the salvation provided 
by Christ Jesus the man makes his condemnation 
sure. Being a sinner by nature, he has become 
much more a sinner by practice. And in that 
practice of sin he has gone beyond the ordinary 
breaking of ordinary law. With extraordinary 
hardness of heart he has repulsed extraordinary 
love and mercy. He has broken the law of God: 
he has defied the authority of God: he has spurn- 
ed the gospel of the Son of God: he has flouted 
the great redeeming love of God and of Jesus 
Christ His Son! 

To refuse the offer of a free salvation is more 
and worse than to be a sinner: it is be to a 
sinner, and to persist in sin when warned; 
to refuse salvation from sin; to love sin while 
rejecting the Son of God as Saviour with a de- 
liberate and determined purpose. He, therefore, 
who does not accept the free salvation provided 
in the redemption of Jesus Christ is condemn- 
ed already: and his condemnation is just. 



THE FREENESS OF SALVATION J I 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VI. 

i. What do we call the tidings of salvation, 
and why? 

2. To whom should the gospel be proclaimed, 
and why? 

3. Why is the gospel rich in meaning to the 
man to whom it comes? 

4. Why is it a man's duty to accept the gospel? 

5. How does a man accept the gospel? 

6. Show how obedience is related to faith. 

7. What else is related to faith, and why? 

8. What is the significance of the fact that 
faith belongs to the heart? 

9. If a man is not saved whose fault is it, and 
why? 

10. Why may a man not plead that his soul 
is lost because of his "bad luck?" 

n. Why do men hesitate to submit to the 
condition on which salvation is offered to them? 

12. What makes the sinner's rejection of sal- 
vation a terrible sin? 



VII. OF THE GRACE OF REGENERATION. 

We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be re- 
generated or born again; 1 that regeneration consists in giving 
a holy disposition to the mind; 2 that it is effected, in a manner 
above our comprehension, by the power of the Holy Spirit 
in connection with divine truth, 3 so as to secure our voluntary 
obedience to the gospel; 4 and that its proper evidence appears 
in the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life. 5 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*John 3:3. Verily, verily , I say unto thee, Except a man be born again , he can- 
not see the kingdom of God. (John 3 : 6, 7 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 14; Rev. 14: 3 ; 21 : 27 .) 

22 Cor. 5: 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. (Ezek. 36: 26; 
Deut.30:6;Rom.2:28,29;5:5;Uohn4:7.) 

3 John3: 8. The wind bio weth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound there- 
of, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that 
is born of the Spirit. John 1:13. Which were born, not of blood , nor of the w ill 
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. James 1 : 16-18. ...Of his own 
will begat he us with the word of truth. (1 Cor. 1: 30; Phil. 2: 13.) 

4 1 Peter 1 : 22-25. Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the 
Spirit. 1 John 5:1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of 
God. (Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 3:9-11.) 

^Eph. 5 : 9. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. 
(Rom. 8:9; Gal. 5:16-23; Eph. 2:14-21; Matt. 3:8-10; 7:20; 1 John 5:4, 18). 

72 



GRACE IN REGENERATION. 

i. A sinner's first and great need is salvation. 

In order that he may be saved he must be re- 
generated. This is to say that if he is to take his 
place among God's living children he must him- 
self become a living child of God. He has been 
generated, and this has given him physical life: 
he must now be regenerated, in order that he 
may have spiritual life. Michael Angelo chiselled 
a great block of marble into the shape of a man. 
It is the admiration of tourists who visit the church 
of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. It is called 
" Moses." But it is not Moses. It is only a 
block of marble. Wonderful though it be for 
its shape, it lacks life, and is a stone and no man. 
The Christian religion does not save by reshap- 
ing, but by regenerating. There is an outward 
change, but it follows and is caused by an inner 
change. 

When there is life in the tree it will put on 
foliage and fruit; but you cannot produce life 
within the tree by sewing on its branches fruit 
and foliage. First there must be life; then fruits 
will appear in due time. By this principle God 
deals with the sinner. The sinner is not chiselled 
into saintly shape, as if he were a block of marble. 
He is not made fit for the company of saints by 
decking him in the livery of angels. New life 
is quickened within him by regeneration. He 
comes by the way of sonship into the family of 
the blessed. Not by the clothes, but by the na- 
ture of the heavenly family, is it made manifest 
that he belongs with those whom God calls His 
own people. 

2. Regeneration is something new in the man's 

73 



74 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

life. The word suggests this: it is a birth; and 
this birth is not the first birth, but the second.' 
It is not a development of the life which came 
by the first birth, but a birth separate and dis- 
tinct and different from the first. It therefore 
is properly called a new birth. In his conver- 
sation with Nicodemus Jesus called it being 
born from above. The first birth is earthly, the 
second heavenly; the first natural,the second spir- 
itual. The first birth reveals the likeness of 
man to lower animals, the second birth links him 
to the Most High God. Because of a human 
father and mother the man has the natural life 
which follows the natural birth; because the Holy 
Spirit gives another and heavenly life to his spirit 
the man has the spiritual life which follows the 
second birth. The natural man is not shaped 
and polished according to a better pattern by 
this divine touch, but changed at the centre of 
his being. This change then becomes manifest 
as the renewed spirit rules the whole man. 

3. This new birth, to accomplish this trans- 
formation, gives a new disposition to the mind. 
Impulses are there that were not there before. 
A sovereignty of good intentions and holy pur- 
poses is there that was lacking before. 

This new disposition is holy. The man is 
disposed towards holiness. He is disposed to- 
wards pure thoughts, good words and noble deeds, 
and is opposed to that which is evil in thought 
and word and deed. He is disposed towards 
obedience to all the commandments of God, and 
is opposed to lawlessness, disobedience and wicked- 
ness of every kind. He is disposed towards self- 
denial for Christ's sake, and is opposed to that 
pleasure-seeking which follows the way of sin, 



GRACE IN REGENERATION 75 

either the sin of act or of neglect. He is dis- 
posed towards usefulness, and is opposed to that 
indolence and frivolity which makes a life of no 
account to the forces of righteousness. 

This holy disposition of the mind becomes the 
building principle. There is a specific life in the 
oak tree which makes the tree of a certain size 
and shape in stalk, branch, leaf and acorn. There 
is a specific life in a rosebush which produces a 
bush instead of a tree, small leaves instead of 
broad leaves and fragrant, soft-petalled roses 
instead of round, hard acorns. It is the disposi- 
tion of the life within which makes an oak tree 
what it becomes or a rosebush what it becomes. 
And so also it is the holy disposition which re- 
sults from regeneration, working by the Holy 
Spirit, that builds up a character of holiness in 
the man. 

4. The Holy Spirit is the agent of the new birth. 
Except by the act of the Holy Spirit there can 
be no new birth. No one can act in his place. 
To no angel has such power been committed, nor 
is it within the power of any man. No oak tree 
can change a shrub at its side into an oak; no 
man can change another man from the natural 
to the spiritual state. He can teach him, exhort 
him, admonish him, appeal to him and influence 
him by example, but he cannot impart to him a 
new spiritual life. This the Holy Spirit only can 
do. And the Holy Spirit does this great thing 
by acting upon the powers already possessed by 
the man. Intellect, emotion, imagination, will, 
conscience — these belong to the man as a human 
being; but the Holy Spirit establishes a permanent 
control of these powers by his regenerating power, 
insomuch that the man is essentially a new crea- 
ture. 



j6 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

5. Because regeneration is the work of the 
Holy Spirit we can understand but imperfectly 
how it is brought about. This our Lord taught 
when he talked with Nicodemus on the housetop, 
using the illustration of the wind which no man 
sees when it comes or when it goes. We cannot 
trace the process, nor can we always know the 
time, of regeneration. We can know only the 
manifestation. After a man has been born again 
his life shows that the change has taken place. 
Of this we can take note. But the way of the 
Spirit within him we cannot know. He cannot 
always himself tell clearly the story of what has 
happened to him. Often a man whose heart is 
glad because of the new life within can do no more 
than repeat the confession of the blind man: 
"One thing I know: whereas I was blind, now I 
see." And we need not wonder overmuch at 
this. We cannot trace the process when life is 
at work in the seed, changing it into grass or plant 
or tree. We see the green shaft breaking its 
way upward through the soil, and we say, "Here 
is life." And so we see a man revealing growth 
in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 
and we say, "Here is life." And we know that 
that life was not born of flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God. 

6. In bringing about this change the Holy 
Spirit uses ideas which are already lodged in 
the mind. It is by the truth that men are made 
free and alive. But the truth does not effect 
the spiritual change working alone. If a block 
of marble and a sculptor's chisel and mallet were 
shut up alone in a studio for a hundred years, 
at the end of a hundred years there would be only 
a block of marble, a chisel and a mallet. But 



GRACE IN REGENERATION *ff 

when Michael Angelo uses the chisel and mallet 
upon the marble there presently appears a 
" Moses," or a "David," or some other sculpture 
having in its pose and curves the marks of the 
genius of the sculptor. And in order that truth 
may become effective for the transformation of a 
sinful man it is necessary for the living Spirit 
of God to use it upon the man; but, on the other 
hand, it is necessary for the man to know truth. 

This does not mean that he must know all 
truth, or all duty. Much more will be learned 
as he lives out his life as a regenerated soul. 
Many duties will become clear of which at the 
first he knew nothing. But some idea of God 
and duty he must have. His mind must not be 
a blank. It is within the realm of intelligence, 
the intelligence of the human soul, that the Holy 
Spirit operates as he brings a man from a natural 
into a spiritual experience. 

7. Regeneration takes place only when the 
soul of the man yields to these ideas. His yield- 
ing does not regenerate, though his resistance may 
hinder regeneration. It is when his soul assents 
to the truth which has been lodged in his mind, 
and consents to the domination of these truths in 
the realm of will and purpose, that he is regen- 
erated. But his assent and his consent do not 
do the work. They only remove an obstacle. It 
is the Holy Spirit who, the obstacle removed, does 
the work. 

At the tomb of Lazarus a stone lay between 
the life-giving power in Christ, and the passive 
body of the dead. When the stone was removed 
the life-giving power was exercised and the dead 
came forth. Taking away the stone did not 
give life to Lazarus, but it was necessary that the 



?8 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

stone be taken away. The stone being away, 
Christ said, " Lazarus, come forth. " In like 
manner when from the soul there is taken away 
ignorance and opposition, the Holy Spirit exer- 
cises his power upon the soul, and it comes forth 
from the realm of spiritual death to the realm of 
spiritual life by the working of regeneration. 

8. Following upon this change the soul enters 
upon a life of obedience to God. Regeneration 
brings not only new privileges, but also new re- 
sponsibilities, and a disposition to meet these 
responsibilities. The new-born man is not sim- 
ply saved from spiritual death, but started also 
upon the activities of spiritual life. When the 
dragon fly comes up from its lowly life at the bot- 
tom of the pond, and dries its wings in the sun 
upon the water plant, and spreads them for 
flight, it has left behind the grub-life, and enters 
now joyously into the winged life of the air. It 
obeys the laws of the air, of the new realm into 
which it has come, and for which its powers make 
it fit. In like manner the man born from above 
finds himself in a new realm. It is the realm of 
love, but also of law; of a law which is based on 
love. He looks for God, he tends towards God, 
he has a disposition to obey God. He has been 
made fit for spiritual activity, and disposed to- 
wards conformity to God's will. 

9. Acts of devotion to God form a part of 
this obedience. This conversation was over- 
heard one August day: 

"Were you at church yesterday?" 
"No, I am on vacation. " 

"I love my wife during vacation just as much 
as at other times." 

"One can love God and not go to church." 



GRACE IN REGENERATION 79 

"I write to my wife every day." 

The conversation ended there. One was omit- 
ting acts of devotion because it was vacation- 
time. The other by an illustration from human 
relationships showed that acts of devotion would 
be as constant as the spirit of devotion. Re- 
generation gives a holy disposition. That dis- 
position includes the heart of obedience. That 
obedience will seek to express personal devotion 
to him to whom it is due. Our acts will follow 
our feelings. If we pity a hungry child we will 
take steps to see that he is fed. If a husband loves 
his wife he will show his love by suitable conduct. 
If a soul is subject in loving obedience to God, 
acts of devotion, such as prayer, praise and wor- 
ship, will follow. 

10. To these acts of devotion there will be 
added acts of righteousness towards others. 
No man can complete his life-activity in hymn- 
singing and kneelings and prayers. If he at- 
tempts to do so he shows himself to be a hypo- 
crite, like the Pharisee, or a fanatic, like the 
hermit. In the one case he attempts to deceive 
others, in the other case he is self-deceived. 
The regenerate soul has a right disposition to- 
wards God and a right disposition towards man. 
This is the logic of the new life in Christ Jesus. 

ii. In all this there is a proper controlling 
and guiding of the self in body, mind and spirit. 
Right things are done by one who is himself 
right. Acts of devotion to God are meaningless 
if a man is debasing his body, or his mind, or his 
spirit; they are worse than meaningless: they are 
insincere, hypocritical and contemptible. "Keep 
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the 
issues of life." 






80 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

A man may be true and loving as father, faith- 
ful as husband and generous as neighbor, and 
suppose that in these things he has met all the 
requirements of righteousness; but it is not so. 
He must take care of himself as well as his wife, 
his child, his neighbor: and that care must not 
be selfish, but spiritual, a care that studies to 
know and apply the law of God. 

12. Without these fruits of regeneration there 
is no reason to believe that regeneration has 
taken place, and therefore no salvation is assured. 
It is not enough to have in remembrance an 
emotional experience of the past in which new 
hope was born, unless the fruits of regeneration 
followed that experience. It is not enough to 
have a record of years of outward obedience to 
the divine law, unless that obedience has con- 
tinued up to the present hour. 

These words are written in a room where there 
are two clocks. One is keeping time. The other 
is a "grandfather's" clock which long ago ceased 
to keep time. Both are still called clocks, but 
in fact only one is a clock. The other was a clock, 
but now it is junk and fit only for the scrap-heap, 
except for its ornamental value. As a clock it 
is "dead." Now the soul that has been regen- 
erated is alive. To say that a soul is dead, that 
it does not keep time with the laws of God, is to 
say that it is riot a regenerated soul. The same 
facts that prove the soul disobedient, that is, 
that it does not keep time with the movements 
of God, proves also that it is not alive, that it 
has not been regenerated, that the life which the 
-Holy Spirit imparts has not been imparted to it. 

And where this life is absent the eternal hope 
is absent. Where there is no regeneration there 
is no salvation. 



GRACE IN REGENERATION 8l 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VII. 

i. What does regeneration as applied to the 
soul mean? 

2. Show what this new birth signifies. 

3. How does the new birth accomplish this 
transformation? 

4. What is the relation of the Holy Spirit to 
regeneration? 

5. Why need we not wonder if we find regen- 
eration mysterious? 

6. In regenerating a man what does the Holy 
Spirit work upon? 

7. Why will not right ideas regenerate the man 
without the help of the Holy Spirit? 

8. Upon what kind of a life does the regenerated 
soul enter? 

9. What will be the attitude of a regenerated 
man towards God? 

10. What will be the attitude of a regenerated 
man towards others? 

n. How will the regenerated man take care 
of himself? 

12. What is taught by the illustration of the 
two clocks? 



VIII. OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

We believe that Repentance and Faith are sacred duties, 
and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the re- 
generating Spirit of God; 1 whereby, being deeply convinced 
of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of sal- 
vation by Christ, 2 we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, 
confession, and supplication for mercy; 3 at the same time heart- 
ily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and 
King, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient 
Saviour. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*Mark 1 : 15. Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Acts 11:18. Then hath God 
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Eph .2:8. By grace are ye 
saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God. 1 John 5:1. 
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. 

2 John 16: 8. He willreprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment. Acts 2: 37, 38. They were pricked in their heart, and said . . . Men and 
brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized 
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. (Acts 16: 
30,31.) 

8 Luke 18: 13. And the publican . . . smote upon his breast, saying, God be mer- 
ciful to me a sinner. (Luke 15: 18-21: James 4: 7-10; 2 Cor. 7: 11; Rom. 10: 12, 
13; Ps. 51.) 

4 Rom. 10:9-1 1 . If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him irom the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
(Acts 3:22, 23; Heb. 4: 14; Ps. 2: 6; Heb. 1:8; 7:25; 2 Tim. 1:12.) 
82 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 

i. Repentance and faith must be thought of 
together if one would know the teaching of the 
scriptures and the mind of the Spirit. They are 
properly called "inseparable graces. " Effective 
repentance cannot be found in a man who knows 
nothing of the Holy Spirit, Neither can effective 
faith be found in a man who knows nothing of 
the Holy Spirit. Godly repentance cannot exist 
apart from faith. Saving faith cannot exist 
apart from repentance. Though for purposes 
of study it may be necessary to think of repentance 
in itself, and faith in itself, it must always be 
remembered that the two are inseparable. 

2. Repentance is a duty. It is no ordinary 
duty, but sacred, imperative, inescapable. No 
other duty can be substituted for it. No one can 
say, "I have given of my bread to feed the hun- 
gry, and therefore need not repent," or "I have 
suffered much that the gospel might be preached 
and therefore need not repent," or "I have pro- 
claimed the law in the midst of the great con- 
gregation, and therefore need not repent." There 
has always been a tendency for men to do exter- 
nal things and then to claim that this was enough. 
Not so. The inner work takes precedence of 
attention to task. The heart must be made right 
in the sight of God. And no man's heart can be 
made right except as he repents; for every man 
has sinned. And where there is sin there should 
be sorrow for sin. There should be more than a 
purpose to do the will of God in the future. There 
should be grief because of a failure to do the will 
of God in the past. And no one can do the will 
of God from the heart who does not sorrow as 

83 



84 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

he remembers that in many things he has failed 
to do that will. 

3. Faith is a duty. Like repentance, it is a 
grace. Both repentance and faith adorn the 
soul. They show the mark of the divine hand 
moulding the soul for moral beauty. But even 
as repentance is a sacred duty, so also is faith. 
To believe on God as Father, Jesus Christ as 
Son and the Holy Spirit as Enlightener is a priv- 
ilege, as it is a privilege for a son to believe in 
the goodness and love of his mother: but it is 
a duty also. No son has done his full duty to his 
mother who has done no more than to obey her 
word in respect to his conduct, his companion- 
ships or his life-plans. He owes something more 
than external conformity to her laws of life. He 
owes her the fealty of his heart. He owes her 
love and confidence. He fails as a son unless he 
has faith in his mother. And in like manner a 
soul fails in respect to God if there is no more 
than a well ordered life. Underlying that well 
ordered life there must be faith. The Father is 
worthy of our faith. Christ deserves our com- 
pletest confidence. The Holy Spirit may be 
relied upon for comfort and teaching without 
hesitancy or doubt. And since to withhold this 
faith is to insult God, it is plainly our sacred duty 
to relate ourselves to Him by faith. And unless 
we do exercise faith in Him it is not possible for 
us to live our lives righteously in the highest sense 
nor fulfil God's great law both in respect to our- 
selves and others. Therefore, because God de- 
serves it, and because our lives fail if faith fails, 
faith is not only a grace, inseparable from repent- 
ance, but also a duty of the most sacred and im- 
perative character. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 85 

4. The uniting of repentance and faith is a 
sacred duty. The failure to do this may begin 
in ignorance, but it will end in hypocrisy. Where 
there is apparent sorrow for sin without faith 
in Christ, there soon appears a morbid condition 
of the soul. Religious emotion exhausts itself 
in regrets. There is a lack of purpose. There 
is a lack of amendment of life. In fact the sorrow 
for sin is not full grown. It does not reach the 
stature of actual repentance, which requires faith 
in Him whose grace has led to repentance. In 
the same way where there is apparent faith with- 
out repentance, there soon is revealed a state of 
moral deficiency which makes real faith impos- 
sible. To have faith in Christ is not simply to 
believe that he will save our souls from hell. It 
is to believe much more than that. It is to ac- 
cept him lovingly and trustfully in his character 
as Saviour and Lord. To have faith in him is to 
hate what he hates and love what he loves, as 
well as to receive good at his hands. No one 
can have faith in Christ who does not sorrow be- 
cause of the sins which wounded Christ. 

5. Repentance and faith result from the work- 
ing within us of the Holy Spirit. There is a 
"repentance" which belongs to tne natural man. 
There is a "faith" which anyone may exercise in 
man or God. But when these words are used in 
the Scriptural sense, more is meant than this 
elemental repentance or faith. 

The repentance which is inseparably linked 
with faith, and leads to salvation, is a godly sor- 
row for sin, such a sorrow as can arise only when 
the Holy Spirit has moved upon the heart. The 
faith which issues in salvation is more than an 
appreciation of goodness or grace: it is a conscious 



86 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

acceptance of Christ as Saviour and Lord, and 
involves such a surrender as the soul is incapable 
of except as aided by the Holy Spirit. Thus is 
the grace of God revealed at every step of the way 
of salvation. When man became lost in sin, one 
of the consequences was loss of spiritual discern- 
ment and power, as well as spiritual impulse. It 
is to supply this lack that the Holy Spirit comes 
to the help of the soul. So damaged is the soul 
by sin that it cannot repent as it ought to repent, 
nor can it believe as it ought to believe. But 
the Holy Spirit, responding in grace to human 
need, as he does his regenerating work in the soul, 
quickens the soul into Godly repentance and saving 
faith, the " inseparable graces," which are also 
"sacred duties." 

6. The Holy Spirit leads us to discover our 
own guiltiness, and thereby aids us to repent 
sincerely. The natural man does not make this 
discovery. His impulse is to excuse his sins. He 
excuses them in many ways. He fails to realize 
the imperativeness and holiness of God's law. He 
attributes his failures to natural weakness and 
does not blame himself for being weak. He 
even puts the responsibility upon God, who, as 
he thinks, has made him to be what he is. But 
when the Spirit does his work in the soul every 
refuge of lies is swept away. The man gets a 
new vision of God's holiness and of the holiness 
of His law. He becomes ashamed to excuse 
himself on the ground of his weakness, knowing 
that what he has called weakness is also sin. 
No longer does he dare to accuse God of fault 
for his own failure or iniquities. He sees himself 
in a new light, in a light in which he could not see 
himself simply as the result of human teaching. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 87 

It is because his judgment has been clarified and 
his conscience quickened by the Holy Spirit 
that he knows himself guilty, and is moved to 
repentance. 

7. The Holy Spirit discovers for us the object 
of faith. We have heard of Jesus before by the 
hearing of the ear. We have known him as an 
historical personage who lived long ago. We 
have seen the progress of his name through the 
centuries, and have admired him. We have 
recognized him as the Saviour of the world, the 
only hope of lost sinners. All this one may ex- 
perience without having faith in Christ in the 
Scriptural sense, that saving faith which in ac- 
cepting Christ makes him our own, assures to us 
eternal life, and works transformation of charac- 
ter by the renewing of the mind. The men of 
Samaria said, "This is the Saviour of the world;" 
but that did not save them. Many of our un- 
saved neighbors and friends assent to the facts 
which the Scriptures assert concerning Christ, 
but they are not disciples. It is because they 
have not yet seen Jesus Christ as the object of 
their own individual faith. Nor can they see 
him thus without the help of the Holy Spirit. 
They may cultivate their minds by diligent study, 
and confine their study to the facts of Christ's 
life; they may listen to the testimony of ^myriads 
of believers, and yet they may remain in spirit- 
ual darkness. Man is spiritually helpless apart 
from the Holy Spirit. There is no clear vision 
of Jesus Christ, and therefore no possible accept- 
ance of him as Saviour until the Holy Spirit helps. 
".Born of the Spirit" — this is the word of Jesus 
Christ. He only is born of him who has a vision 
of Jesus Christ for himself; and the power to see 
him as he is, is not natural but supernatural. 



88 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

8. The Holy Spirit quickens our intelligence so 
that we are able to grasp the idea of salvation. 
This quickening is necessary, and can come from 
no other source. It is necessary, because salva- 
tion does not belong to the realm of the natural. 
Salvation is a supernatural fact. It is provided 
by a supernatural method. It cannot be grasped 
by any natural process of the mind. The his- 
tory of man has given innumerable illustrations 
of this fact. Through all the Christian centuries 
there have been constant departures from the 
divine plan of salvation. And what has been 
true of the multitude will be true of the individ- 
ual. He will try to think his way through the 
problem, and will think blunderingly. It is 
because the light of nature is not sufficient. There 
is need of the light of the Holy Spirit. And this 
because only from the Holy Spirit does super- 
natural light come. Only from the Holy Spirit 
comes the power adequately to quicken the mind. 

Through the ages God, in many ways and by 
many messengers, has helped man at the point 
of need. When prophets were needed He gave 
the people prophets. When one was needed 
who should make atonement for the sins of the 
people, He gave His son. And as the One who 
should give light to the soul, to enable it to have 
spiritual vision and to behold the Saviour, and 
to quicken the powers of the soul to act according 
to the truth of that vision, He gave the Holy 
Spirit. 

9. The Holy Spirit incites us to turn from our 
sins and accept Jesus Christ as Saviour. There 
may be knowledge of sin, a vision of him who 
saves from sin, and power to accept, without 
the impulse to act upon that knowledge and 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 89 

accept that Saviour. Indecision before impera- 
tive duty is common. Often we hear the word 
"I know I ought to do so and so, but — ;"and 
what follows the "but?" Neither action nor 
adequate explanation. Thousands are marring 
their lives by irresolution. They need to be 
incited to act. This is pre-eminently true in 
the realm of salvation. Unless the soul is in- 
cited to use its powers, seek the Saviour and for- 
sake sin, there will be no decision, no repentance, 
no faith. Hence the need of prayer to God, in 
times when we are seeking to win souls, that the 
Holy Spirit shall stir to action as well as give 
light and power. 

10. When the soul responds to these four in- 
fluences, there will be a three-fold manifesta- 
tion — "Contrition, confession and supplication." 

There will be contrition. The sense of sin will 
be actual. It will be more than a flippant admis- 
sion of moral failure; the feeling of sorrow on 
account of sin will be real. It will be more acute 
because of the new view of Jesus Christ. When 
we find that we have sinned against him who is 
not only consummate goodness and love, but 
one whose goodness and love have sought us by 
the way of his self-sacrifice, contrition follows. 

There will be confession. Contrition is not 
complete until it moves to confession. Refusal 
to confess our sins is proof that we have not 
honestly and completely repented of our sins. 
It is proof that we wish to evade the consequences 
of our sins, and not the direst consequence only 
but even those consequences which Christ, who 
would save us from the great penalties, sees to 
be needful to our moral amendment. It is when 
the Spirit of God has had his way in the soul that 
contrition is followed by confession. 



90 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

There will be supplication. The language of 
repentance and faith is not simply contrition and 
confession, but also supplication. The soul does 
more than tell the story of its sin and sorrow. It 
supplicates the divine mercy. This is because 
there is faith. Faith asks for mercy, knowing 
that there is mercy in Jesus Christ. Faith asks 
for infinite blessing, having heard from the gos- 
pel that there is infinite blessing waiting for those 
who come to God by him. Forgiveness, grace 
to help in time of need, — these, with all that they 
include of richest grace, are properly sought in 
fervent supplication by him who has been re- 
generated by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

ii. In this experience there will also be a 
glad and eager acceptance of Jesus as Prophet, 
Priest and King. 

He will be accepted as Prophet or Teacher. 
The Christian convert is a disciple. A disciple 
is one who is studying that he may learn and fol- 
lowing that he may know. When one has sur- 
rendered to Christ, he has become a disciple of 
Christ. And a disciple must learn the lessons 
which his master teaches. These lessons will 
come from the Scriptures and in many ways. 
There will be no ending of school days while 
life lasts. And the disciple will wish for no end. 
This is a school to which the saved soul turns 
with such gladness and eagerness that he wants 
no vacation. 

He will be accepted as Priest. He made atone- 
ment for us. He ever liveth to make intercession 
for us. As Priest he is forever associated in our 
thoughts with Calvary, where he was led as a 
lamb to the slaughter, and the throne of God 
where he now prevails as the intercessor in our 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 91 

behalf. Having him we have accepted a com- 
plete atonement and a sufficient intercession. 
We need no other Priest, and want none. 

He will be accepted as our King. We cannot 
have Jesus as Saviour unless we are willing to 
have him as King. He who saves must rule. If 
any man would be saved by Christ he must deny 
himself, take up his cross and follow. The 
Christian's life is not simply privilege and bliss; 
it is also responsibility and duty. We are not 
saved by law but by grace: but all who have 
been saved by grace are thereby brought under 
the law of love, the highest of all law. And he 
who has felt within him the power of the regen- 
erating spirit will eagerly desire to be obedient 
to the holy laws which centre in love. 

12. There will be perfect reliance on him to 
whom, in the hour of repentance, we have turned 
by faith. There will be complete allegiance to 
to him as Teacher, Priest and King. There will 
be unhesitating dependence on him as Saviour 
and Lord. We shall be satisfied with the per- 
fection of his character, knowing him whom we 
have believed. We shall find sufficiency in his 
moral teachings, asking no further light from the 
wise men of the world. We shall know that 
whatever the science and the philosophy of this 
world may teach us, his teachings in moral suf- 
ficiency and spiritual grandeur shall rise higher 
than all. We shall have assurance of our eternal 
safety. 

"Safe in the arms of Jesus" will be more than 
a song on our lips: it will be a conviction in hearts 
that are stayed on him. And this reliance on 
Christ will not be the result simply of reasoning: 
it will be the fruit of the Spirit. It will be a 



92 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

great confidence in the hidden place of the soul, 
because of an inner life, caused and sustained by 
the Holy Spirit; for they that are born of the 
Spirit of God do indeed mind the things of the 
Spirit even as they know the life of the Spirit. 

Repentance and faith are life-long companions 
in the heart of the saved man — repentance to- 
wards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ 
— " Inseparable graces" they are, and with us 
unto the end. Not simply as doctrines, but as 
mighty experiences of the soul in dealing with 
God, and mighty forces in the making of charac- 
ter and regulating the life. 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH 93 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER VIII. 

i. Why are repentance and faith called "in- 
separable graces?" 

2. Why is repentance a duty? 

3. Why is faith a duty? 

4. Why should repentance and faith be united 
in our thought? 

5. By whom are repentance and faith produced 
within the soul? 

6. Why is the Holy Spirit needed to show a 
man his guiltiness? 

7. Why do we say that the Holy Spirit is need- 
ed to show the object of faith? 

8. How does the Holy Spirit affect the in- 
telligence? 

9. Why is the Holy Spirit needed to incite the 
soul to turn to Christ? 

10. What three-fold manifestation follows when 
the Holy Spirit has done His work? 

11. In what three characters will Christ be 
accepted? 

12. In what respects shall we then be able to 
rely fully on Christ? 



IX. OF GOD'S PURPOSE OF GRACE. 

We believe that Election is the eternal purpose of God, ac- 
cording to which he graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves 
sinners; 1 that being perfectly consistent with the free agency of 
man, it comprehends all the means in connection with the end; 2 ' 
that it is a most glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, 
being infinitely free, wise, holy, and unchangeable; 3 that it 
utterly excludes boasting, and promotes humility, love, pray- 
er, praise, trust in God, and active imitation of his free mercy; 4 
that it encourages the use of means in the highest degree; 6 
that it may be ascertained by its effects in all who truly be- 
lieve the gospel; 6 that it is the foundation of Christian assur- 
ance; 6 and that to ascertain it with regard to ourselves de- 
mands and deserves the utmost diligence. 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*2 Tim. 1:8,9. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of 
me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to 
the power of God : who hath saved us , and called us with a holy calling , not accord- 
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in 
Christ Jesas before the world began. (Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Peter 1:1,2; Rom. 11:5, 
6; John 15:16; 1 John 4:19.) 

2 2 Thess. 2: 13, 14. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you , 
brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to 
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth : whereunto he 
called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
(Acts 13: 48; John 10: 18; Matt. 20: 16; Acts 15: 14.) 

sExod. 33:18, 19. (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 9:23, 24; Jer. 31:3; Rom. 11:28, 29; 
James 1:17, 18; 2 Tim. 1:9; Rom. 11:32-36.) 

«1 Cor. 4: 7. (1 Cor. 1:26-31; Rom. 3:27; 4: 16; Col. 3: 12; 1 Cor. 15: 10; 1 
Peter 5: 10; 1 Thes3. 2: 12, 13; 1 Peter 2: 9; Luke IS: 7.) 

62 Tim. 2: 10. 1 Cor. 9: 22. (John 6: 37-40; 2 Peter 1: 10.) 

6 1 Thess. 1: 4-10. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our 
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, 
and in much assurance. 

'Rom. 8:28-31. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: 
and whom he called, them he also justified and whom he justined, them he also 
glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us who can be 
against us? (Isa. 42: 16; Rom. 11: 29.) 

8 2 Peter 1 : 10, 11. Wherefore the rather, brethren , give diligence to make your 
calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an en- 
trance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
ou rLord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Phil. 3: 12; Heb. 6: 11.) 
94 



GOD'S PURPOSE OF GRACE. 

1. In dealing with man God has an eternal pur- 
pose. Because we are speaking of God one can 
say no less than this of Him in relation to the 
creature He made in His own image. To say 
less would be to charge God with triviality. But 
if He trifled with human souls He would not be 
God. Nor would He be God if He could frame 
and execute only a plan and purpose limited in 
time with respect to men. The very nature of 
His being makes it necessary for us to conceive 
of His purpose regarding men as eternal. And 
this also is the clear teaching of the Word of God. 
His plans are not presented in the Scriptures as 
fitful and transient. He is not represented as a 
God who is infirm of purpose or feeble in the exe- 
cution of His designs. That which was in the 
thought of God is now and ever shall be in His 
thought. Having put His hand to the plow God 
does not look back. Having gone forth into the 
field He cannot be driven back to defeat by the 
forces of evil. 

2. God's eternal purpose is holy. In order to 
be in harmony with His nature it must be holy. 
His purpose with respect to men represents His 
character. In the presence of a flock of lambs a 
wolf will be a devourer, but a shepherd will be a 
protector. Each will act according to his nature. 
In the presence of man God will have and follow 
a purpose of holiness, for He is holy. And this 
purpose will be gracious as well as holy, inasmuch 
as He is a God of love as well as a God of holiness. 
His purpose will include not only punishment of 
sin, but also the grace of forgiveness and redemp- 
tion. These two_move along together. The 

05 



96 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

love that is gracious to the redeemed must be a 
consuming fire towards all that would destroy 
those whom God would save. Sin must be re- 
jected and driven away: and when a soul refuses 
to be separated from sin, that soul must be re- 
jected and driven away. There are not two pur- 
poses, one to destroy and the other to save: it 
is all one purpose, always holy, always gracious, 
whether the end be the destruction or the salva- 
tion of the soul. 

3. In its outworking in respect to men God's 
eternal and holy purpose is an act of electing 
grace. We may confess that we cannot under- 
stand how the electing grace of God and a free- 
acting human soul sustain a consistent relation to 
each other in the realm of the freedom of each; 
but if we go beyond this confession, and deny that 
God elects, or that man is free, we shall plunge 
ourselves into greater difficulties than those from 
which we are seeking to escape. Our intellectual 
difficulty arises from the fact that our finite minds 
are here compelled to deal with matters that 
transcend our powers. But we can do better 
than reject the truth. We can accept as true 
the things which are seen clearly or are clearly 
revealed, even though we are compelled to con- 
fess that, inasmuch as we know only in part, it 
is not possible for us to put these parts together in 
a harmonious whole. 

We cannot think intelligently and deny free- 
dom of purpose to God and, we surely must ad- 
mit His eternal foreknowledge of all the way of 
His own thoughts and purposes, and of the rela- 
tion of individual men to these. We cannot 
observe men, acknowledge the human sense of 
responsibility, and yet deny to men freedom of 



GODS PURPOSE OF GRACE 97 

choice. The intellectual difficulty that arises 
when we seek to harmonize these two great facts 
is not peculiar to theological problems of thought. 
Whenever man has thought profoundly the same 
logical difficulty has arisen. So far as we can 
understand let us seek to understand; and when 
we cannot understand, be it our part to accept 
the revelation in the spirit of humility, confess 
our intellectual limitations, and wait for larger 
powers in a future intellectual and spiritual de- 
velopment. 

4. In the act of electing grace God regener- 
ates, sanctifies and saves sinners. We see Him 
not simply as the God of good men, but as the 
Saviour of bad men. These bad and lost men He 
plucks as brands from the burning. But they 
are not brought into a state of privilege unchanged. 
They are not given eternal riches by some exter- 
nal act while they remain paupers in soul. Not 
thus does God's electing grace act. This grace 
comes by the Holy Spirit to the guilty soul. 
That soul, responding to the call of God, is re- 
generated by the Holy Spirit. The work begun 
in regeneration is continued in sanctification. The 
man who has been born of the Spirit and is a 
new creature, grows in grace and in the knowl- 
edge of Jesus Christ. He is a saved man, an 
heir of eternal salvation, a child of God accord- 
ing to the promise. 

5. In the exercise of this grace God uses means. 
There is no departure from the laws of being as 
observed in other relationships and realms of 
activity. God is dealing with minds, and in 
carrying forward His purpose moves upon these 
minds by the use of ideas. God is dealing with 
human wills, and deals with these by the use 



98 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

of motives. God is dealing with affections, and 
presents to these affections objects of desire. 
We must not think of God as active in grace and 
man passive, as if God lifted the man out of a 
state of condemnation to a state of forgiveness 
as a man might lift a pebble from the mud and 
place it among diamonds. God not only uses 
His power, but also means; and the means He 
uses are such means as appeal to a human soul. 

6. In the use of means God's purpose of grace 
meets the free-acting human soul. He does not 
use force. "No force divine doth love compel.' ' 
He does not use magic: the idea that a priest 
acting for God, by the recitation of certain words 
and the performance of certain rites, can save a 
soul, is contrary to the teachings of the Word of 
God. Salvation comes to the soul that comes to 
salvation. Forgiving Saviour and penitent sin- 
ner meet. Helpless man and the mighty Holy 
Spirit are joined in the great transaction. The 
man cannot save himself, but he can receive the 
message of hope; he cannot pluck himself as a 
brand from the burning, but he can lay hold by 
faith of the arm that is extended to save. 

The woman with the issue of blood could do 
nothing to heal herself, but she could touch the 
hem of the garment of the passing Saviour. In 
this she was a free-acting soul, though powerless 
to help herself. Lazarus could do nothing to 
raise himself from the dead, but when the voice 
of Jesus smote upon his dead ears, quickening 
them into life, and bearing a message to his 
awakened soul, he could come forth at the super- 
natural bidding. The woman and Lazarus alike 
were conscious of action. Each was conscious 
of the power to act differently. The woman 



GOD'S TURPOSE OF GRACE 99 

might have shrunk away from Jesus before she 
was healed, or might have refused to make her- 
self known after she was healed and had heard 
his call. Lazarus might have tarried in the sepul- 
chre. In every conversion the man is aware that 
he could have decided differently, could have 
refused the voice that called, could have spurned 
the offered pardon, could have persisted in un- 
belief and sin. But instead of using his freedom 
to refuse, he used it to consent. He answered to 
the electing grace of God, and there came regen- 
eration, sanctification, salvation. 

7. In these purposed acts of mercy the good- 
ness of God is abundantly manifested. Here is 
a Sovereign who has become a Saviour. In this 
great transaction of grace we see a shepherd who 
lays down his life for the sheep. Almighty 
power, infinite wisdom and untainted holiness 
act in harmony with compassionate love. 

If it is said that this electing grace does not 
include all who need salvation, the answer must 
be that it includes all who are willing to become 
the heirs of salvation. Salvation is not narrowed 
in the goodness of God, but in the waywardness 
and resistance of men. It is not that He loves 
meagrely, but that men persist in sin wickedly. 

8. Because this salvation is of grace the saved 
man may not boast. He could not save himself; 
therefore he cannot boast of his power. He did 
not deserve to be saved; therefore he cannot boast 
of his worth. He paid no part of the price of 
his redemption; therefore he cannot boast of his 
resources. He made no excursion in quest of 
Christ, but was sought out by the Holy Spirit; 
therefore he cannot boast of his initiative in the 
great transaction by which he was saved. 



IOO WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

It was not man's purpose but God's which led 
to salvation. Being the purpose of God, it was 
wholly of grace: if it had been man's purpose, the 
salvation would have been sought for himself: 
God sought it for another. If man had sought 
it he would have been seeking to escape the pen- 
alty of his sins: God in seeking it was bringing 
blessing to the man who had sinned against Him. 

9. Because this salvation is undeserved, and 
brought near wholly by the grace of God, man is 
saved from pride. He is led forth in the way of 
humility. He comes into an attitude of appre- 
ciation of God. Within his heart there grows the 
plant of gratitude. He has a sense of obligation 
which impels him to glorify God and give Him 
heartfelt service. This is great gain to him mor- 
ally. It creates conditions favorable to growth 
in character. It keeps his soul open on all sides 
to those divine energies and nourishments which 
make for spiritual progress. A self-sufficient 
soul would seek to live on its own fat. If a man 
had felt that he had saved himself, either wholly 
or in part, he would pursue the new life in his 
own strength, depending upon his own resources, 
which are not sufficient, nor are they good. But 
knowing himself "a sinner saved by grace," 
wholly dependent upon the goodness of God for 
spiritual hope and power, he turns to the green 
pastures of God's grace and drinks at the still 
waters of the life eternal. 

10. Because of the grace and greatness of this 
salvation, there is dependence upon God at every 
step of the way. The soul's new life finds expres- 
sion in "love, prayer, praise, trust in God, and 
active imitation of his free mercy." The man 
must love God who first loved him, and by His 



god's purpose of grace ioi 



great purpose of mercy has brought near to him 
His effective electing grace. To refuse love, or 
to be slack in love towards God, proves the absence 
of the new life of grace. 

The soul will pray to Him. Set free from all 
confidence in his own sufficiency, and aware that 
all his springs are in God, the man will ask of 
Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraid- 
eth not, whether the cry be for wisdom or other 
spiritual help. 

The soul will praise Him. There will be praise 
for the great acts of grace by which rescue has 
come. There will be praise for the daily help 
by which the good fight of faith is strongly main- 
tained. There will be praise for the sufficiency 
which is found in Him, " enough for all, enough 
for each, enough forevermore." 

There will be trust as well, and the spiritual 
impulse to live out the life which has so richly 
possessed the soul. 

ii. As the grace of God is brought near by the 
use of means, the duty of publishing and teach- 
ing the gospel is imperative. The Holy Spirit 
does not do his work upon one whose mind is 
an entire blank. Salvation does not come to 
the soul without an appeal to the conscience and 
will. The teaching of the truth of God's word is 
a part of the process by which the soul is saved. 
Thee is always something for man to do. Even 
in the regeneration of the souls of men God links 
human activity with that which is divine, the 
natural with the supernatural. 

It has pleased God in the great matters that 
relate to the human family to keep human ac- 
tivity and responsibility close to His own pro- 
cesses. Man is in very fact a co-worker with 



102 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

God. We need not raise the question as to wheth- 
er God needs us. We well know that He could 
have ordered His working in such a manner as 
to make superfluous the best help that we can 
give. But it was according to His will to do 
otherwise. And since He has laid out His work 
with a part and a place for us, it is entirely cor- 
rect to say that He needs us. The task which He 
has set us to do needs to be done. It is His will 
that He should need that we do it. It is not a 
question whether by some other method He 
could have carried out His purpose. We know 
He could. But inasmuch as He elected to use 
means, and such means as we are able to bring 
close to men, and has commanded us to do so, 
slackness on our part is culpable in the highest 
degree. 

1 2 . Whether any man belongs to the company of 
the elect will be shown by his life. If he truly 
believes the gospel he is an heir of salvation. If 
he is an honest believer, the effects of his faith 
will be seen in his life. He will behave like an 
heir of salvation. To claim to be one of the elect, 
and to behave like an unbeliever, would be to 
act the part of both the hypocrite and the fool. 
No citing of past experiences, no sophistry in 
respect to intellectual assents, can be of any avail. 
No man belongs to the company of the saved un- 
less he sincerely accepts the gospel: and whoever 
sincerely accepts the gospel becomes the subject 
of an inner change which shows its effects in his 
conduct. 

But if it is audacious and impudent to claim 
to be of the elect while continuing in sin, it is 
foolish and irrational to doubt acceptance with 
God if there has been acceptance of His mercy 



god's purpose of grace 103 

and the changed life which follows the new 
birth. "How shall I know whether I am one of 
the elect?'' is a morbid cry. As often as doubt 
arises in the heart let the soul look away to Jesus. 
If he shall do this he may defy all the assaults of 
sin and hell. God does not save reluctantly. 
He does not seek to keep the number of the saved 
as small as possible. He delights in mercy. 

Instead of awakening doubt this great teaching 
of God's word is the basis of assurance. If 
salvation were our own work, or dependent upon 
our first choice, we should have reason to fear, 
and that often and exceedingly; but because it 
is God who takes the initiative, because it is the 
Holy Spirit who regenerates and sanctifies, and 
because our salvation is wholly of grace, we can 
humbly and joyfully accept the assurance of life 
eternal as we promptly accept the offered mercy. 

13. Seekingtoknow whether we have answered 
the call of the gospel is a solemn and instant duty. 
While we have no reason to abide in a realm of 
distrust and gnawing fear, we have every reason 
to take heed lest we fail to repent and believe the 
gospel. The human heart is deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked. We are tempted 
to follow our own way rather than the way of 
Christ. Superficial religious life has contented 
many in every age. That we may escape this 
condemnation, and have the assurance that we 
are indeed the children of God, we do well to 
search the scriptures diligently, that we may 
know the voice of our Master and understand in 
full what He requires of us. 

This great doctrine of the divine purpose sums 
itself up in harmonies of God's sovereignty and 
man's free agency. He that hath begun a good 



104 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 
We work out our salvation with fear and trembling 
because God works in us to will and to do of his good 
pleasure. Our highest and surest evidence of 
being the children of God, is found in walking 
in his ways, living in fellowship and companion- 
ship with him, 

14. God's call and man's response work to- 
gether in fulfilling the purposes of grace for the 
glory of God in the saving of men. This won- 
derful doctrine of grace gives no occasion for 
stumbling, but should be for the believer's com- 
fort. It is the grace wherein we stand and re- 
joice in the hope of the glory of God. 

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- 
destinate to be conformed to the image of his 
Son . • . Moreover, whom he did predestinate, 
them He also called; and whom He called, them 
He also justified; and whom He justified, them 
He also glorified." Here five great words mark 
the course of human redemption: foreknow, pre- 
destinate, call, justify, glorify. They are verbs, 
all in the active voice, with God as their subject 
and man as their object. They show the activity 
of God's mind for man's good, revealing His 
thought, His purpose and plan, His process and 
its mighty ongoing to glorious consummation. In 
the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches 
of His grace in His kindness toward us through 
Christ Jesus. 



god's purpose of grace 105 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER IX. 

1. Why do we say that God has an eternal pur- 
pose? 

2. What is the character of His eternal purpose? 

3. What do we mean by God's electing grace? 

4. In His electing grace what does God do for 
sinners? 

5. How does God in grace move upon human 
minds? 

6. What kind of a soul does God deal with in 
this work? 

7. Why may we say that electing grace mani- 
fests the goodness of God? 

8. Why may not a man boast of his salvation? 

9. How is man saved from pride herein? 

10. How does the soul's new life find expres- 
sion? 

11. Why is the duty of teaching the truths of 
the gospel imperative? 

12. How is it shown that a man belongs to the 
company of the elect? 

13. Why is heart-searching the duty of a Chris- 
tian? 



X. OF SANCTIFICATION. 

We believe that Sanctification is the process by which, ac- 
cording to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holi- 
ness; 1 that it is a progressive work; 2 that it is begun in regen- 
eration; 3 and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers 
by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and 
Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means, es- 
pecially the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watch- 
fulness, and prayer. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

l \ Thess. 4: 3. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. 1 Thess. 
5:23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. (2 Cor. 7:1; 13:9; 
Eph.l:4.) 

2 Prov. 4: 18. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day. (Heb. 6: 1 ; 2 Peter 1:5-8; Phil. 3: 12-16.) 

8 1 John 2: 29. If ye know that he iGodJ is righteous, ye know that every one 
that doeth righteousness is born of him. Rom. 8: 5. They that are after the flesh 
do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the 
Spirit. (John 3:6; Phil. 1:9-11.) 

*Phil. 2: 12, 13. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it 
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Eph. 
4: 11, 12, 30; 6: 18; 1 Peter 2: 2; 2 Peter 3: 18; 2 Cor. 13: 5; Luke 9: 23; 11: 35; 
Matt. 26: 41; Eph. 6: 18.) 
106 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH. 

i. A Christlike character is the goal of the man 
who has been regenerated. That which he is 
seeking is not simply a passport to heaven: it 
is a character conformed to the will of God. 
This results from a transformation by the renew- 
ing of the mind. Peter on one occasion said to 
Jesus, "What shall we have?" That is a ques- 
tion which men are always asking. The son 
asks what he shall have from the father's estate. 
The student asks what he shall have as the re- 
sult of his years of hard study. The business 
man asks what he shall have as a reward for the 
use of his capital and his diligence in business. 
It is a question which is asked every day and 
everywhere. It therefore is not strange that the 
question arises so often on the threshold of the 
religious life. And in truth religion promises 
much. Jesus told Peter that in this life he should 
have a hundred fold and besides that the life 
everlasting. But we must be careful not to sup- 
pose that these gains are in the form of gold coins 
or fertile acres or worldly honors. A Christian's 
treasures are largely within his soul. They take 
the form of riches of character. 

2. It is in respect to holiness that a man can 
be nearest to God. He cannot have power like 
unto the power of God; God is almighty and the 
might of man is limited on every side. He can- 
not share in the majesty of God: God is supreme 
in glory, and man is little and humble. He 
cannot share in the sovereignty of God: God is 
the King of kings and Lord of lords, while man 
is numbered among servants. But while man 

107 



108 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

cannot have, and need not seek to have, a part 
in the power, majesty or sovereignty of God, he 
is both invited and commanded to seek the holi- 
ness of God. "Be ye holy, for I am holy.'' The 
Christian man is a son of God. The son should 
show likeness to his father. That likeness most 
of all should be likeness in character. 

3. The process by which a man comes to have 
part in the holiness of God is called sanctifica- 
tion. Sanctification is a setting apart, a puri- 
fication, an enabling, an exalting of the man in 
holiness. 

It is a setting apart. The man is separated 
from the life of unbelief and the affiliations re- 
sulting from it. He has heard the command, 
" Come out from among them and be ye separate," 
and has obeyed. 

Sanctification is purification of the heart. By 
it old things are put away and all things become 
new. The heart turns from the things it once 
sought to seek the things from which it once 
turned away. 

Sanctification is an enabling. By it comes 
power. "I can do all things through Christ 
who strengtheneth me" is the language of the 
believing soul as the sanctifying power of the 
Holy Spirit is felt. 

Sanctification is an exalting to higher planes 
of privilege, of joy and of fellowship. It is the 
upward march of a living soul, a soul made alive 
by the Holy Spirit, brought into a new range of 
ideas, impulses, purposes and activities by the 
inflow of the divine life. 

4. Sanctification is a duty as well as a privi- 
lege. It is not simply a good thing which a 
man sees he may desire or seek, but which he 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH IOQ 

may without fault neglect. If a man, confessing 
to a saving faith in Jesus Christ and a hope of 
eternal life through him, declares that he neither 
needs nor desires sanctification, he thereby pro- 
claims his ignorance of the way of salvation and 
raises instantly a doubt as to whether he has 
ever tasted of the heavenly gift of life. 

In all the universe of God things tend to grow 
to their own stature. The young oak tends to 
grow to the stature of an oak, not of a thistle; 
the young eagle tends to grow to the stature of 
an eagle, not of a sparrow. Now a man who has 
been born again has become a son of God. A 
son of God tends to grow to the stature of a son 
of God. The process of that growth is sanctifica- 
tion. It is his duty to be sanctified; that is, it 
is the duty of a child of God to be and behave 
like a child of God. To fail of sanctification is 
to fail to realize the will of God. 

5. Sanctification is not instantaneous but 
progressive. This is not a denial of sudden up- 
lifts, by which the soul attains to new privileges 
and powers in grace. Among modern saints as 
well as saints of former days, there have been not 
a few who passed through experiences which great- 
ly enriched their lives. Some of these have had 
only one such experience. Others have had sev- 
eral or many. This is quite possible and desir- 
able. Perhaps it ought even to be sought and 
expected. 

But the work of sanctification is not complete 
in such an hour, and if a man thinks it has been 
completed and seeks for nothing higher in grace, 
that which he has may be taken away, and he 
will fall into a backslidden state, a state, it may 
be, of pride and selfrighteousness. Whatever 



IIO WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

heights have been attained there are other heights 
to be attained. The mountain peaks of God are 
exceeding many and high. The way of sancti- 
fication is an upward path, with the heavenly 
heights always beyond. Never in this life is 
progress stopped by attainment. Attainment 
is only one step in the progress, preparing the way 
for other steps in further and more glorious prog- 
ress. 

6. Regeneration is the beginning of sancti- 
fication. It is no more than the beginning. It 
is not sanctification. By regeneration a man 
becomes a new creature, but not a completed 
spiritual creation. He has but entered the school 
of discipleship: in that school he shall learn many 
lessons. He has only passed over the threshold 
of God's great house of grace; in that house there 
are many rooms to explore and many treasures 
to possess. He has received new life and new 
powers: in the years that stretch before him he 
must grow in grace and knowledge, gain mas- 
teries, perform tasks, achieve results, become 
more and more closely akin to his Lord and Sav- 
iour. 

7. The work of sanctification is carried on in 
the heart. As the purifying of the blood of the 
physical heart tends to the health and strength 
of the body, so the sanctification of the psychical 
heart tends to spiritual growth and power. This 
is the centre of the energies, choices, desires and 
purposes of the soul. Out of the heart proceed 
the issues of life. It is the source and spring of 
action and character. Sanctification, then, is 
not a work to be done externally, giving a super- 
ficial polish, as of manners, tones, accents, but 
internally, making holy the source of all these. 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH III 

By making holy the energies of the soul there 
is secured an activity which shall have a right 
direction. By making holy the choices of the 
soul, the rejection of the false and base is secured. 
By making holy the desires of the soul, there is 
destroyed any impulse to seek evil ways of thought 
or deed. By making holy the purposes, the whole 
force of a man's being is turned towards good. 
As regeneration can be wrought only within the 
heart, so sanctification, which continues regenera- 
tion, belongs to the inner places of the soul; and 
that external excellence which is revealed by the 
man in whom sanctification is proceeding accord- 
ing to the will of God, is not a mere conformity 
to a fashion, but is the work of a transformation 
of the very substance of the man. 

8. This work of sanctification is done by the 
Holy Spirit. He dwells in the heart of the be- 
liever as a vivifying, guiding and moulding force. 
This is to say that the development of a Chris- 
tian man in character is not the result simply of 
enlarging knowledge, ripening experience and 
careful self-discipline. It is not the result of the 
action of the natural powers of mind, conscience 
and will. In addition to all man's natural powers, 
there is a spiritual power at work. This power 
is vital. It is intelligent. It is personal. It is 
supernatural. The Holy Spirit, when he regen- 
erates a human soul, does not retire as though he 
had completed his work. His work with that 
soul has only begun. It is his to be active still 
in the heart of the believer, continuing his life- 
giving work, until he can present the soul without 
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. In this, as 
in the work of regeneration, the soul is powerless 
to attain the divine result except by the divine 
help. 



112 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

9. Where the presence of the Spirit is there is 
power. To say that the Holy Spirit is present 
in the heart is to say that there is spiritual power 
in the heart. And this power, working upon the 
heart, tends to bring it into accord with the will 
of God. It is in this direction that the Spirit of 
God must exert his power. And the believer, 
possessed by the Holy Spirit, should be conscious 
of that indwelling power. He should know that 
there is reality in that indwelling which makes for 
his purification. He should not be content with 
empty theories concerning the cooperation of 
his powers and that divine power. There should 
be a lively sense of partnership, a feeling of impulse 
from a life greater than his own. This is possible. 
It may be the experience of those who are en- 
lightened. And he who knows this experience 
can face temptation with courage and his task 
with patience. 

10. The Holy Spirit, living his life for us and 
working in us, seals our salvation. He puts upon 
it his official mark. He makes it certain, assured, 
authoritative. If a man has made no advance 
in piety since the day of his conversion, where is 
the evidence of regeneration? If the new life 
which he believes was imparted to him by the 
Holy Spirit has given no indication of its presence 
by its constructive effects, what is the ground for 
believing that there was ever any such life there? 
But when sanctification proceeds according to 
the will of the Spirit, the mark of heaven is on 
the soul. Salvation is attested by its fruits. 
As by a seal a legal document is made effective 
and authoritative, so by this mark the salvation 
of the soul is made official by the Holy Spirit, 
whose office-work has thus been done upon the 
believer. 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH II3 

11. The Holy Spirit, as a sanctifier, performs 
for us gracious ministries which may be variously 
described as by the words Comforter, Advocate, 
Helper, Strengthened He makes intercession 
for us. He imparts strength to us. He helps 
by enlightening, cheering, guiding. At every 
point where there is need, at every point where 
there is a question, a task, a burden, an obstacle, 
a path, the Holy Spirit joins with the soul. We 
do not live our lives alone. We are not shut off 
from heavenly help. We are not like Spartan 
children exposed on the mountains alone in the 
rain and the cold. Nor is there simply a divine 
eye watching us from afar. The Holy Spirit 
has taken our yoke upon him. He is ever with 
us. 

12. In the work of sanctification the believer 
is not passive but active. He cannot sanctify 
himself in the sense in which the Holy Spirit 
sanctifies him. But he has his part to perform 
as in the act of regeneration. For in sanctifica- 
tion, as in regeneration, he is not like a lump of 
clay which the potter moulds according to his 
will, nor like a block of marble which the sculptor 
chisels into some desired shape. That which 
is done for the man is done by cooperation with 
the man. 

This holds in all the dealings of God with His 
people. The man is not a lump of clay, nor a 
block of marble, nor a mere machine. God does 
not deal with men as if they were dolls. He who 
is sanctified by the Holy Spirit cooperates with 
the Holy Spirit. Such powers as he has he em- 
ploys. What he can do he does. There is a 
response of his intelligence, his conscience and 
his will to the call of the Holy Spirit. And with- 



114 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

out this response there is no sanctification. Very 
great, therefore, is the responsibility of the man 
for his sanctification, even though that great 
work can be done by the Holy Spirit only. 

13. The believer who would be sanctified will 
desire to use the Word of God. He will wish to 
know what God has revealed concerning His 
own character and human duty. He will in- 
quire as to the commandments of God, and the 
admonitions, and the promises. The more he 
knows of these the richer may be his development 
in character, the more assured his progress in 
sanctification. But here he is not left to himself. 
More use is made of the Word of God than he 
can make by his own intelligence. It is a part of 
the office-work of the Holy Spirit to apply the 
Word to his heart, to call to his remembrance 
both command and promise, to make the Word 
effective and enlightening to his soul. 

14. The believer uses self-examination. He 
searches his motives to see if there be any wicked 
way in them. He compares today with former 
days, to discover whether he has departed from 
the fervor or high purpose of the past. He ap- 
plies the Word of God to his conduct, that he 
may know whether his behavior will stand the 
test of the divine law. And this he does honestly 
and fearlessly. He makes no poor excuses for 
his own poor conduct. He accepts no low stand- 
ards for himself. Because he has the Word of 
God for his guide, and the Holy Spirit as his 
partner, he examines himself in a clear light and 
with the clear conviction that he may go from 
strength to strength in the Christian way. 

15. The believer uses self-denial. He well 
knows that he has impulses which must be re- 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH 115 

sisted. The world calls, and if he does not take 
care the heart will follow the call. And that will 
lead to spiritual disaster. Self-indulgence is 
opposed to sanctification. Not by that path 
does character grow pure and Christlike. The 
man who will go after Christ must deny himself, 
take up his cross and follow him. All highest 
attainment is in the way of self-denial. " Beloved 
self must be denied" by every one who would 
follow the voice of the Holy Spirit. Deadly 
weeds may cumber the ground where flowers 
should grow and bloom in beauty. There must 
be weeding out in spiritual culture, as in the gar- 
den, that the fruitage may be rich and in great 
abundance. 

16. The believer employs watchfulness. There 
are dangers and deceits on every hand. Man} 
pitfalls are hidden. Unless a man watch he will 
fall into them before he is aware that danger is 
near. There are deceits on every hand. Satan 
himself may appear as an angel of light. Entice- 
ment to evil may come from those whom we should 
be able to trust. False standards of life are re- 
commended by the respected and the respectable. 
Unless the believer be watchful he will be duped 
and that to his great injury. And the period of 
watchfulness is not short and soon over. It is 
not confined to our earlier years. Many are 
sickly today because they were not aware that 
a soul must be on guard all the way along the 
journey. The young must be watchful, for 
peculiar temptations assail them. The middle- 
aged must be watchful, for notwithstanding the 
victories which they have won there are perils 
still in the way. The aged must be watchful, 
for the victories of youth and middle-age have 



Il6 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

not slain the dragons that follow the later years 
of life. The Christian spirit, which is the mark 
of sanctification, is found only where the soul has 
been on guard continually. 

17. The believer uses prayer as he seeks sanc- 
tification by the Holy Spirit. " The word of God, 
self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness and 
prayer," these five; and prayer is by no means the 
least of these. No one can study the Bible to 
profit except as he studies prayerfully. No one 
can examine himself intelligently except as he 
prays. No one can deny himself and take up 
his cross daily and follow Jesus except he call 
upon God for help. No one can have eyes suf- 
ficiently keen to discern the perils of the way save 
the man who is often in prayer to his heavenly 
Father. The earnestness of soul which is neces- 
say in the man who would attain to a rich and 
full sanctification of life compels prayer. He 
must call upon God in the time of his trouble, his 
struggle, his weariness, his pain; and he who is 
much in prayer will have the joy of knowing that 
God is working within him according to His good 
pleasure, and that he is becoming transformed into 
the image of Christ, changed from glory to glory 
the path shining brighter and brighter. 



SANCTIFICATION BY THE TRUTH • Y\J 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER X. 

i. What should the Christian long to possess? 

2. What characteristic of God should a Chris- 
tian earnestly seek to have? 

3. What is sanctification? 

4. Show that sanctification is a duty. 

5. Show that sanctification is progressive. 

6. What is the relation of regeneration to sanc- 
tification? 

7. Is the work of sanctification carried on in 
the intellect or the heart? 

8. Who is the agent in sanctification? 

9. From whom comes the power required in 
the work of sanctification? 

10. In what sense does the Holy Spirit seal 
the salvation of the Christian? 

n. What different ministries does the Holy 
Spirit perform in the work of sanctification? 

12. What is the Christian's part in his own 
sanctification? 

13. What will the Christian who seeks sancti- 
fication desire to use, and why? 

14. Why does the Christian use self-examina- 
tion? 

15. Why self-denial? 

16. Why watchfulness? 

17. What is the relation of prayer to sancti- 
fication? 



XL OF THE PERSERVANCE OF SAINTS. 

We believe that such only are real believers as endure unto 
the end; 1 that their persevering attachment to Christ is the 
grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial pro- 
fessors; 2 that a special Providence watches over their welfare; 3 
and that they are kept by the power of God through faith unto 
salvation. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

1 John 8:31. Then said Jesus, ... If ye continue in my word, then are ye my 
disciples indeed. (1 John 2: 27, 28; 3: 9; 5 : 18.) 

2 1 John 2: 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; but if they had 
been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that 
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (John 13: 18; Matt. 
13:20, 21; John 6:66-69.) 

3 Rom. 8: 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that 
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Matt. 6: 30-33; 
Jer.32:40;Ps.l21:3;91:ll,12.) 

4 Phil. 1:6. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the 
day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 2: 12, 13; Jude 24, 25; Heb. 1: 14; Heb. 13: 5; 1 John 
4:4.) 
118 



THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 

i. Every one who has saving faith in Jesus 
Christ is a saint in the New Testament sense of 
that word. He has been regenerated, and is 
being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He has 
been set apart to the service of God; and there- 
fore he may justly be called a saint. He is a 
regenerated soul, and is in the process of purifica- 
tion, strengthening and exaltation by the Holy 
Spirit; and for this reason he may justly be called 
a saint. 

This does not mean that the man has already 
attained all spiritual excellence. A man is a 
saint by reason of the direction he is going rather 
than because of the stages of the journey he has 
already passed. The humblest disciple, at the 
earliest stage of the journey of his sanctification 
by the Spirit of God, is a saint in the sense in 
which that word is here used. 

2. Among those who are called believers there 
are the real and the spurious. It was always so. 
There is a believing that does not attain to the 
quality of saving faith. When Jesus first ap- 
peared in Jerusalem, prior to his conversation with 
Nicodemus, there were certain persons who, 
seeing his miracles, were eager to be reckoned as 
believers in him; but Jesus did not trust them, 
knowing what was in the human heart. They 
were not saints. Judas was counted among the 
inner circle of believers; but his believing was 
inadequate, and his discipleship was proved at 
length to be spurious. He was not a saint. 
Others, as the years of conflict between Chris- 
tianity and worldliness went on, were gathered into 
the company of the disciples only to fail in the 
time of the testing. They were not saints. 

119 



120 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

The title saint may not be applied to those 
whose believing is shallow, and who cannot en- 
dure the test of the years and of trial. They are 
not saints because they are not real believers. 
They have not surrendered themselves wholly 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have not res- 
sponded to the purifying power of the Holy Spirit. 
The change in them has been external and super- 
ficial. They have not been regenerated by the 
Holy Spirit. They are not new creatures in 
Christ Jesus. They are strangers to the exper- 
ience of sanctifying grace. They do not perse- 
vere in the way of life because they have never 
entered it. The water that flows from a living 
stream continues to flow, for the source yields a 
perpetual supply; but the water that is emptied 
from a cup, flows abundantly for a moment only; 
for the stream is not renewed, the source not 
being a living fountain. The real believer is 
like the stream that flows from a living fountain. 
The spurious believer is like the flow of water 
from an overturned cup. 

3. The test of the reality of a believer is en- 
durance to the end. The anchor chain must en- 
dure the test in every link or it cannot be reckoned 
among anchor chains. If the last link fails the 
whole chain fails. In like manner the believer 
must endure the strain of this life's test not in 
the first year only, or the second, or the third, or 
any succession of years short of all: he must en- 
dure the test unto the end. The stalk of wheat 
must be wheat from the moment the seed ger- 
minates in the soil to the time when the ripened 
ear of wheat is tested in the mill. This is no un- 
reasonable demand of the wheat. Wheat natur- 
ally meets this test. If the plant should change 



THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 121 

at some period of growth, into another form, and 
the grains of wheat fail to appear, then it would 
be certain that that which was thought to be 
wheat was never wheat at all. The real wheat 
does not complain because it is required of it 
that it be wheat all the way through its life. And 
this test, which is universal in all the world we 
know, must be applied among disciples. The 
real believer continues in the way. He is wheat 
to the end. He never becomes a tare. He can- 
not be anything but wheat, for the life of the 
wheat is in him. 

4. This test is complete only when the end 
of life has been reached. The anchor chain has 
not been fully tested until the last link has been 
tested. The Christian believer has not given full 
proof of the reality of his faith until that faith 
has been put to the test in youth and in old age, 
in the beginning of the way and at the end of 
the way, as well as all the way along. A man 
may deceive others many years, and be discovered 
in his true character only when some new cir- 
cumstance has arisen which finds him off his 
guard. 

Or a man may be self-deceived. He may have 
refused the complete surrender of his heart which 
the gospel demanded, believing that he could 
obtain eternal life at smaller cost. He may have 
persuaded himself that he has indeed obtained 
life. In that hope he may have entered into the 
discharge of the duties of the Christian life, and 
long have met no test which he did not appear to 
sustain with fair credit. Self -deceived he has been 
lulled into a false security. The awakening comes 
with some unexpected test, some temptation for 
which he was not prepared. Then it is revealed 



122 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

that the life of the past was an outer conformity 
and not the result of an inner change. As long 
as life lasts there is the possibility of such failure. 
If it comes even at the last of life, it is as sure 
proof as if it had come earlier that the soul has 
not passed from death unto life. 

5. Perseverance to the end is the only suf- 
ficient test. The real and the superficial believer 
may have many things in common, just as the 
wheat and the tares have many things in common : 
it is what they are at the end of the way which 
determines that one shall go to the granary and 
the other to the consuming fire. The base metal 
which is combined with gold to produce what 
is termed gold-filled metal resembles gold in many 
ways. If you apply the test of color, it seems 
like gold. If you draw it out into wire, its ductility 
is the same. If you put it through rollers to 
reduce the thickness you find that its malleability 
is the same. 

But in spite of all these resemblances it is not 
the same. It is not gold, and there are uses to 
which gold can be put to which this base metal 
cannot be put. Yet the inferiority of the metal 
may not be discovered until after it has stood 
many tests which the inexpert would apply. Base 
metal and gold may rest side by side for a long 
while, the difference being known only to the 
expert; but the expert knows the difference and 
the final test will reveal it even to the inexpert. 
And in like manner the spurious believer may be 
long reckoned as a man of faith and a saint of 
God, only to fail at the last. The sufficient test 
is the long test, the life test. Those who endure 
to the end shall be saved. 

6. Believers are not left to resist unaided 



THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 123 

the temptations which test them. Nor is the 

help only that which is laid hold of by the soul in 
its extremity. The believer sustains a special 
relation to God, is specially guarded and helped 
by the Holy Spirit in times of need. The teach- 
ing of the apostle Paul was based upon his own 
experience as well as his knowledge of the truth 
of God. Because of that experience his testi- 
money was confident and joyous. A great mass 
of Christian testimony has been accumulated in 
the Christian ages corroborating the message of 
the apostle. In any Christian life the test may 
be made and the truth established experimentally. 
It is a part of the mystery of God's grace that 
there is not only care for all, but there is care for 
each. The Holy Spirit, infinite in wisdom, power 
and love, ministers to every soul, and in all the 
way is a present help in the time of need. The 
saint perseveres, but not in his own strength alone. 
The Spirit who regenerates and sanctifies also 
joins in the battle that results in the final perse- 
verance of the saint. 

7. This watchcare of Providence is compre- 
hensive, sympathetic and sufficient. 

It is comprehensive. The Holy Spirit knows 
all the way we take. There is no peculiarity in 
any life which is not understood. No one has 
any occasion to fear that his case is so different 
from all other cases that it is not comprehended 
by the Providence that watches over us. 

It is sympathetic. The Spirit of God deals 
with us as with children. And this we need. 
We are strangely childish in our needs. Often 
our heart-aches can hardly be confessed even to 
our nearest friends. They would not sympa- 
thize. Often it would be impossible to make 



124 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

them understand why an obstacle which seems 
small to them seems insurmountable to us. But 
the help which we have comes from One who 
sympathizes with child or man at the exact point 
of need and suffering, and He does not upbraid us 
with our foolishness as our earthly friends might 

The watchcare of Providence is also sufficient. 
The provision for our safety is adequate. What- 
ever fears we may have when we think of our own 
insufficiency, we may dismiss all alarms when we 
remember the source of our help. Help has been 
laid upon One who is mighty to save. 

8. This power which is linked to watchcare in 
the help of the believer is made effective through 
his faith. This joining of the divine and the 
human is seen in all the relations of Christian 
discipleship. Regeneration is wrought by the 
Holy Spirit, the man answering in repentance 
and faith to the divine call. Sanctification is 
wrought by the Holy Spirit, the man responding 
by faith to the purifying and strengthening grace 
vouchsafed in this spiritual relationship. And 
the perseverance of the believer amidst the trials 
and testings of life, while made possible by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, is a result, on the human 
side, of that faith which appropriates the blessing 
offered by the Spirit. A man who would be saved 
must believe. A man who would be sanctified 
must believe. A man who would persevere must 
believe. 

9. The believer is not the passive subject of 
the divine care. Nor is the faith by which he 
receives God's grace in regeneration, sanctifica- 
tion and perseverance like an empty bucket let 
down into a well. The man who says he is depend- 



THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 125 

ing on God to keep him to the end, while failing 
to fight like a soldier on the field of battle, is 
proving that he is a superficial believer. 

The perseverance of the saints is illustrated by 
the figure of the traveller who presses ever on- 
ward and upward to the heights to which God is 
calling him, or of the servant who from morning 
until night does his Master's bidding in his Mas- 
ter's vineyard, or of the soldier who fights the 
good fight of faith and lays hold on eternal life. 
The man must work out his own salvation with 
fear and trembling; but as he works he has the 
unspeakable joy and certain encouragement of 
knowing that it is God who is working in him 
according to His own will and pleasure. 

io. In this perseverance the power that keeps 
the believer is keeping him unto salvation. And 
salvation is more than access to heaven. Access 
to heaven is a part of salvation. There lies be- 
fore us a better world than this. There remain- 
eth a rest to the people of God. "I go to prepare 
a place for you," said Jesus. We cannot exag- 
gerate the preciousness of our heavenly hope. 
But to think of salvation as mere access to heaven 
is to think superficially and falsely. Salvation 
has a present as well as a future meaning. 

The Holy Spirit as he keeps us for the hour 
when we may have access to heaven, keeps us 
from the hour of present evil. The perseverance 
of the saints which comes by faith and fighting 
on the believer's part, and by the imparted grace 
of God, through the Holy Spirit, is the life of 
victory in a path which shines more and more 
even unto the perfect day. It is perseverance 
day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. 
And this perseverance in the present leads out 



126 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

into perseverance in the future, until the last 
battle is fought, the last task performed, the 
final stage of the journey covered, and we are 
received into the glory prepared for those who 
endure unto the end. 

ii. Perseverance in welldoing is one's only 
proof of reality in his faith or certainty of his 
adoption into the family of God. There maybe 
precious memories of glad experiences when the 
gospel was joyously received. There may be a 
hope of a happy entrance into heaven by and by. 
But these memories are vain and this hope is 
false if in the present our relation to God is not 
in harmony with the past experience or the 
future hope. It is sheer madness for a man to 
believe himself an heir of heaven when he is not 
acting like an heir. 

The promises of God are yea and amen only 
for those who meet the conditions of those prom- 
mises. A past emotion, however joyous, is not 
sufficient ground of hope. Years of conformity 
to religious obligations can give no assurance of 
hope to the man who has ceased to walk in con- 
formity to these obligations. If the present is 
marked by wickedness or worldliness or indiffer- 
ence the proof of faith is lacking, the evidence 
of regeneration has disappeared, and it is 
folly and sin to claim a place among saints. 
"Kept by the power of God through faith unto 
salvation" describes a man who is realizing in 
himself daily the words of the apostle, "Be not 
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind; that ye may prove 
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will 
of God." 



THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS 127 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XI. 

i. Who may justly be called saints? 

2. To whom must the title be denied, even 
though they profess discipleship? 

3. How does a Christian give full proof of the 
reality of his discipleship? 

4. When may a Christian claim that no further 
proof should be required of him? 

5. Who alone shall be saved? 

6. What enables the Christian to persevere 
to the end? 

). How may the watch-care of God's provi- 
dence be described? 

8. How must a man relate himself to this help? 

9. How constant must this relation be? 

10. In this connection how should we think of 
salvation? 

11. Has a man any right to believe he is saved 
if he is not behaving like a saved man? 



XII. OF THE HARMONY OF THE LAW 
AND GOSPEL. 

We believe that the Law of God is the eternal and unchange- 
able rule of his moral government; 1 that it is holy, just, and 
good; 2 and that the inability which the Scrip tuies ascribe to 
fallen men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love 
of sin; 3 to deliver them from which, and to restore them through 
a Mediator to unfeigned obedience to the holy Law, is one 
great end of the gospel, and of the means of grace connected 
with the establishment of the visible church. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

1 Rom.3:31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, 
we establish the law. (Matt. 5: 17; Luke 16: 17; Rom. 3: 20; 4 : 15.) 

2 Rom. 7: 12. The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 
(Rom. 7:7, 14, 22; Gal. 3:21; Ps. 119.) 

3 Rom. 8: 7, 8. The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to 
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot 
please God. (Josh. 24: 19; Jer. 13: 23; John 6: 44; 5: 44.) 

4 Rom. 8: 2-4. t For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free 
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for 
sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be ful- 
filled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom. 10: 4; Heb. 
8:10;12:14;Jude20,21.) 
128 



HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL. 

i. In the moral government of the universe 
God acts in harmony with a rule* He would be 
less than God if it were otherwise. All that we 
know of the universe shows that God is orderly 
and consistent as He lives out his life in the great 
creation which He made. Rule is characteristic 
of the material universe. This is not a chance 
world. Rule may be observed in the formation 
of sand dunes and coal veins, in the crystals of 
snow flakes and diamonds, in the formation of 
waves and of mountains, in the flow of rivers down- 
ward to the sea, and of sap upward through the 
branches of the trees, in the growth of a beetle 
and a man. Rule may be observed in the realm 
of mind as well as matter. Human intelligence 
does not act by chance, but in an orderly way. 
Knowing one mind we can infer how any other 
sane mind will act under certain given circum- 
stances. Upon this fact the most of our knowl- 
edge is based. If there were no law of mind the 
world would be peopled by imbeciles. As in 
the realms of matter and of mind there are govern- 
ing rules, so there is rule in the moral realm. 

2. This rule is unchangeable; no caprice or 
fickleness prevails here. It is not one thing 
today and another thing tomorrow. There is 
not one rule of morals in America and another in 
China, one for the rich and another for the poor. 
The law which determined the flow of the rivers 
of Eden is the law which determines the flow of 
the Mississippi and the Amazon and the Thames. 
The law which made for wheat harvests in the 
valley of the Nile when Jacob sent his sons into 

129 



I3O WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

Egypt because of a famine in Canaan, is the law 
which makes for wheat harvests in the American 
Northwest in the twentieth century. The laws 
of mind which made a statesman of Moses and 
of Jeremiah, a poet of David and a theologian of 
Paul, are the laws which give direction to the 
thinking of our great intellectual leaders in this 
age. And not more unchangeable than these 
laws in the realms of matter and mind are the 
laws which relate to the moral government of 
the universe. That which was right in Eden is 
right in Paris, in London, in New York; that 
which was wrong in Eden is wrong the world 
over. No change of place or time or possession 
or attainment can affect the essential rule of the 
universe. 

3. This rule is eternal and of universal fitness. 
Not only is it unchangeable with respect to places 
and races, to days and seasons, to conditions and 
circumstances, but also to ages. It has been 
unchangeable. It will be unchangeable. A lie 
was a lie when the first lie was told; a lie is a lie 
forever. Murder was murder when Abel fell: 
murder is murder now: murder will be murder 
always. It is not by an arbitrary decree that the 
moral rule of the universe has thus far been un- 
changeable. If that were so God might make 
another arbitarry decree with a new rule. 

This rule is unchangeable because it is in har- 
mony with the unchangeable nature of God. It 
is a rule based on His holiness. It is as unchange- 
able as His holiness. This is to say that it is 
eternal. It is of the nature of fire to emit heat: 
therefore as long as there is fire there will be heat. 
It is of the nature of God to be holy: because He 
is eternal His holiness is eternal. And holiness 



HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL I3I 

cannot express itself in unholiness of action. The 
rule of God among men is an expression of His 
holiness. It must be eternally what it has ever 
been. We can conceive of this world being de- 
stroyed and its place being empty in space. We 
can conceive of an earth with no human being 
upon it. But we cannot conceive of an age when 
the moral government of the universe shall be 
changed, because we cannot conceive of God 
becoming different morally from what He is now 
and ever has been. So to conceive of Him would 
be to destroy our conception of Him as God. 

4. This rule of government in the moral uni- 
verse is called the Law of God. This law is 
clearly revealed in the Scriptures. Men may 
learn something about the laws of God without 
the Scriptures, just as they may learn something 
about God without the Scriptures. There is a 
revelation concerning the moral government of 
the universe in the realm of the physical. There 
is a revelation in the mind of man. Those who 
study cause and effect diligently may know cer- 
tain human duties which the law of God requires. 
But there is no clear and complete discovery of 
this law apart from the Scriptures. For the law 
of God goes beyond human duties. It goes be- 
yond duties to God. 

The law of God sets forth certain mysteries of 
divine grace, which the heart of man may hunger 
for but cannot know until the authoritative word 
of God makes the revelation. When we say that 
the law of God is made known by the Scriptures, 
we do not mean that in certain verses or chapters 
or books that whole law may be found clearly 
and concisely stated. The law of God is revealed 
in the Bible as a whole. It is imbedded in this 



1 32 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

great collection of writings. It is found in the 
history of the dealings of God with individuals 
and races. It is found in the writings of poets 
and prophets. It is found in the preaching of 
John the Baptist and the epistles of Paul the 
Apostle. But it is especially set forth in the life 
and words, and death and resurrection, of Jesus 
Christ. 

5. This law of God is holy as He Himself is 
holy. It is complete in every part. It is free 
from flaw. But more than this, it is adequate. 
It is a universal law. It is an age-long law. It 
is a perfectly adaptable law. The people of 
whom the Bible chiefly tells were an agricultural 
people. The law of God was adapted to them. 
It is adapted also to a commercial people. It is 
adapted to family relations, social relations, 
political relations, international relations. It is 
suited to the white man, the black man, the red 
man, the brown man. Savage races have 
found the upward path only as they have pressed 
toward the standard set by the law of God. 
Social conditions have improved only as the men 
of the community have become obedient to the 
law of God. Nations can find no higher rule of 
conduct than the law of God. All our ills result 
from a departure from that law; because to de- 
part from it is to forsake the way of holiness. 

6. The law of God is just and cannot be un- 
just. Its justice is universal. Apply the law 
of God wherever you will, and the result will be 
the removal of injustice just as far as that law is 
applied. When the law of God is applied to the 
nation, there is justice for the individuals com- 
posing that nation. When the law of God is 
applied to industry, there is justice for the em- 



HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL 1 33 

ployed as well as the employer. When it is 
applied in trade, there is justice for the buyer 
as well as the seller. When it is applied in gov- 
ernment, the wealthy do not secure privileges at 
the expense of the poor, nor the high-born at 
the expense of the humbly born. The law of 
God recognizes no caste, no classes, no discrim- 
inations on account of birth or race or color. 
By that law the strong are made the guardians 
of the weak, the rich are under obligations to 
befriend the poor, the privileged are called upon 
to share their privileges with the unfortunate. 
Let the law of God be obeyed and at once there 
will be an end to a thousand troubles that are 
now menacing the peace of communities and 
nations. 

7. The law of God is good. It is beneficent. 
It is more than just: it is gracious. It does more 
than call for honesty, uprightness and justice as 
between man and man: as obedience is given to 
its demands all that is highest and best is pro- 
moted. It results in welfare, in happiness, in 
blessedness. It is more than negative, prohibit- 
ing wrongdoing. It is more than positive, re- 
quiring rightdoing. It is linked with all the 
outgoing of God's life towards man; and this 
means that it is linked with His great compas- 
sionate love. The law of God is full of the love 
of God. From it blessings flow. By it happiness 
grows. He therefore who comes to the law of God 
should not think of it as a chain to stop his lib- 
erty, or a knife to prune his vineyard. It is 
graciously more. It does stop the man who 
would go into the ways of evil or danger. It 
does prune away unprofitable and unfruitful 
growths. But it is the shielding arm that de- 



134 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

fends from danger, the guiding hand that leads 
to the rich places of privilege and joy.. 

8. The law of God does not demand more than 
man should give. If a man finds it difficult to 
obey the law of God, this is not because of de- 
fect in the law, but in the man. Inability arises 
from sin. When a clock does not keep time with 
the sun and the stars, we must not blame the 
sun and stars. The fault is in the clock. He 
would be an unreasonable man who would de- 
mand that the movement of this earth with re- 
spect to the sun and stars should be modified to 
harmonize with the movement of his defective 
clock. But even more unreasonable is the man 
who, because his nature refuses to keep time with 
the law of God, cries out against that law, and 
would like to have the divine law brought into 
harmony with his sinful nature. 

9. God has not left men enmeshed in their 
own disobedience. He has provided a way of 
restoration. This is not by pulling the heavenly 
standard down to the level of our guiltiness and 
weakness, but by lifting men up to the level of 
the eternal standard of His holiness. The gospel 
is not simply a glad story of heavenly gates ajar: 
it is the story of moral restoration. The gospel 
does not ignore law by saving men irrespective 
of law. It does not make of none effect the pen- 
alties of a broken law. There is no conflict be- 
tween law and grace. 

10. This restoration is restoration to a state 
of obedience to the law. This does not mean 
that the redeemed man becomes instantly per- 
fect in his obedience. Perfection does not be- 
long to this mortal life. But it does mean he 
ceases to be a rebel against the law. He ceases 



HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL 1 35 

to demand a lower standard of law. By regenera- 
tion he has been made a new creature. It is now 
the great desire and purpose of his heart to do 
the will of God. His obedience may not be com- 
plete, but it is genuine. It is not an outward 
obedience simply, but inward. The law in- 
stead of being regarded now as a destroyer, 
seems rather to be another angel, linking hands 
with that one which is called the Gospel, the two 
uniting to save him from sin and give him a place 
of victory and blessedness high above the penalty 
of sin and disobedience to the law. 

ii. This harmonious action and result are 
brought about by the mediation of Jesus Christ 
through the Holy Spirit. To this end all the 
activities of the divine Spirit upon the penitent 
soul tend. We must here take into account the 
atonement of Jesus Christ by his sacrifice consum- 
mated on the cross. This bears an eternal re- 
lation to the law of God, the law which is holy, 
just and good; the law which every man broke; 
the law by which every one of the sons of men 
was pronounced guilty. 

By a sacrifice beyond our comprehension, in 
a manner beyond our understanding, Jesus Christ 
delivers every believer from the penalties which 
by his transgressions he has incurred. We must 
take into account the work of regeneration ac- 
complished by the Holy Spirit on the soul of the 
penitent believer, by which he is made a new 
creature. Delivered by the work of Christ from 
the penalty of a broken law, and given a new heart 
by the Holy Spirit, by which he loves the way 
of obedience that once he shunned, the law and 
the gospel are seen working in glorious harmony 
for the blessing of the redeemed man. 



I36 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

12. To achieve this is the one great purpose 
of the proclamation of the gospel. By the gos- 
pel a message of promise and hope is sent forth 
among men. They hear the glad tidings of the 
incarnation of the son of God. The miracle of his 
resurrection and ascension completes the story of 
his victory. This gospel opens a door of hope. It 
shows them One who suffered for them. It tells of 
One who has power to change their hearts of 
unbelief and disobedience into a new likeness and 
life. Here is the message of a new birth, the 
beginning of a spiritual sanctification, the promise 
of a perseverance that shall end in the glory which 
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, had with the Father 
before the world was. 

13. To serve this holy and gracious purpose 
we have the Church, with its meetings and min- 
istries, its activities and ordinances, its worship 
and prayer. It is the body of which Christ is 
the head. It is in the world by his will and com- 
mand as a result of his wisdom and dying love. 
To it he has given a commission which has been 
given to no nation, no community, no other or- 
ganization or group of men on earth. Its mes- 
sage is the gospel: no other institution on earth 
has been divinely authorized to make known the 
gospel and to observe and perpetuate the or- 
dinances which belong to the gospel. The church 
proclaims the law of God, and alone of all bodies 
of men shows the harmony of the law and the 
gospel, and alone of all organizations and insti- 
tutions among men teaches how God can save 
men from their sins while enforcing the eternal 
law of His moral government. 



HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL I37 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XII. 

1. Why do we infer that there is a rule in the 
moral world? 

2. Is this moral rule changeable or unchange- 
able? 

3. Why must we think of this rule as eternal? 

4. Where may we find this law of God com- 
pletely set forth? 

5. What may be said concerning the holiness 
of this law? 

6. What may be said concerning the justice 
of this law? 

7. What is the meaning of the statement, 
"The law of God is good?" 

8. Show that the law is reasonable. 

9. How is guilty man brought into harmony 
with the law? 

10. What is the restoration here provided for? 

11. How is this obedience brought about? 

12. What relation does the preaching of the 
gospel sustain to the restoration of the man to 
obedience? 

13. What is the relation of the church to all 
this? 



XIII. OF A GOSPEL CHURCH. 

We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation 
of baptized believers, 1 associated by covenant in the faith and 
fellowship of the gospel; 2 observing the ordinances of Christ; 3 
governed by his laws; 4 and exercising the gifts, rights, and 
privileges invested in them by his word; 6 that its only scrip- 
tural officers are Bishops, or Pastors, and Deacons, 6 whose 
qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the epistles to 
Timothy and Titus. 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

l l Cor. 1: 1-13. Paul . . . unto the church of God which is at Corinth. . . Is 
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? 
(Matt. 18: 17; Acts 5: 11; 8: 1; 11: 21-23; 1 Cor. 4: 17; 14: 23; 3 John 9.) 

2 Acts 2 : 4 1 , 42. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized : and the 
same day there were added into them about three thousand souls. 2 Cor. 8: 5. 
They . . . first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 
(Acts 2: 47; 1 Cor. 5: 12, 13.) 

3 1 Cor. 11: 2. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, 
and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. (2 Thess. 3: 6; Rom. 16: 
17-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Matt. 18: 15-20; 2 Cor. 2: 17; 1 Cor. 4: 17.) 

*Matt. 28: 20. Teachmg them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you. (John 14: 15; 15: 12; 1 John 4: 21; John 14: 21; 1 Thess. 4: 2; 2 
John 6; Gal. 6: 2; all the Epistles.) 

6 Eph. 4: 7. Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the 
gift of Christ. 1 Cor. 14:12. Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 
Phil. 1: 27. That ... I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, 
with one mind striving together for the faith of tne gospel. 

ePhil. 1:1. With the bishops and deacons. (Acts 14:23; 15:22; 1 Tim. 3. 
Titus 1.) 
138 



A GOSPEL CHURCH. 

i. The word church designates a company of 
people called out from others and joined to- 
gether in a body by themselves. This word 
according to some is used to designate the people 
living and dead who, called of God from sin to 
righteousness and from the world to faith in Christ, 
are forever separate from all other human beings 
living or dead. It is also used by some to desig- 
nate people of a certain territory who adhere to 
certain specific doctrines and practices and dif- 
ferentiate themselves from all other people of 
that territory. It is even used sometimes by 
groups of people who distinguish themselves by 
peculiarities of teachings and purposes, even 
though they are not followers of Christ or obedient 
to the word of the scriptures. Like the word 
" gospel" the word "church" is sometimes found 
in worldly company, sometimes in fanatical com- 
pany, and sometimes even in very evil company. 
Such use, however defended on the ground of 
etymology by those who would deny the right 
of the followers of Jesus Christ to appropriate it 
to their own peculiar use, is not justifiable. The 
common use of the word in the New Testament 
and the general literature of Christendom is in 
connection with Christian disciples in the organi- 
zation of themselves into companies. 

2. A gospel church is composed of people 
living on the earth, and so related as to form a 
company which can be seen of men. This phrase 
"visible church" is used in contradistinction to 
the "invisible church" as intended by our fathers 
and describes a company of baptized believers. 
When men die in the faith of Christ, and pass on 



I40 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

into the blessedness of the eternal reward in 
heaven, they are still separate from sinners. They 
are still of the company of the elect. They are 
still associated with Christ, the great Head of 
the church. But they are not visible to men. 
They do not assemble in our earthly houses of 
worship. They have no part in the conflicts of 
the warring, serving church on the earth. They 
are his servants. No doubt, released from the 
limitations of the flesh, they perform better and 
larger service than was possible to them while 
upon the earth. The invisible world is as much 
a reality as the visible; but our part in life is with 
the visible. It is the visible church which we 
see working the will of God upon the earth. It 
is to this church that we become joined by the 
grace of God. It is to the church here that we 
owe allegiance. It is by the church as God's 
plan of service that we have a part in perpetuating 
the ordinances and proclaiming the gospel of 
our Lord. 

3. A gospel church is a company of people 
called out from the world by Christ. They are a 
people saved by him, baptized in his name and 
walking in fellowship with him. They heard 
him say, "Come unto me." Having gathered 
about his person, they become disciples and 
servants. They learn of him. It is their busi- 
ness to learn his will as completely as possible. 
They have no right to accept one part and reject 
another part of his teaching. They become dis- 
loyal if they deliberately slight any part of his 
message. 

Not only do they learn what he teaches but 
they obey him in what he has commanded. He 
has said to his disciples, "If ye love me, ye will 



A GOSPEL CHURCH I4I 

keep my commandments." The company that 
gathers about Christ as their Lord is not simply a 
company of learners. It is a company governed 
by law. That law is the law of Christ. It re- 
lates to conduct in many relations. It relates 
to conduct towards God. It relates to conduct 
towards men. It relates to conduct as members 
of the church, as members of families, as mem- 
bers of the community. It includes practices 
of worship and observances of ordinances. It 
includes the whole duty of man. 

4. Those who gather about Christ at his call 
come as believers. They come to receive bless- 
ing at his hand. They come in recognition of 
his authority. They come because of the lure 
of his gracious fellowship. But all this is based on 
their faith in him. They expect blessings because 
they have faith in him. They yield to his au- 
thority because they have faith in him. They 
are won by his person because they have faith in 
him. 

It is the man who has been born again by the 
Holy Spirit who hearkens to the call of Christ and 
becomes a part of his church. And the man who 
has been born anew has accepted the salvation 
and the rule of Christ. In the church also his 
salvation is proclaimed and that rule magnified. 
The church is the one organization which has 
as its specific mission the doing of the whole will 
of Christ. 

5. The members of his church have accepted 
Christ as Saviour. By the Holy Spirit they have 
been brought to a state of salvation. Every one 
of them, by his presence in the church, professes 
and declares that he has been born again, has 
passed from death unto life, has received the gift 



142 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

of eternal life in Christ Jesus. This means that 
he has received a salvation which delivers from 
the consequences of sin. The members of a 
church, therefore, are differentiated from all 
other people by their hope of life everlasting. 

There is new life within them. That life has 
been imparted by the Holy Spirit to the end that 
they might become children of God. As chil- 
dren of God they have powers as well as privi- 
leges. In the exercise of their spiritual powers 
they show that they are members of a new order 
and therefore properly joined to the company of 
those for whom Christ died and of whom he is 
the Head. We need to magnify church-mem- 
bership in its meaning for the individual life. 

6. Having accepted Christ as Lord as well as 
Saviour, they obey his commandments. The 
church has not been given authority to make 
commandments; it is the duty of the church to 
obey the commandments already made. It is 
not the prerogative nor the privilege of any 
church to modify, minimize or in any way ob- 
scure the commandments, or any commandment, 
of Jesus Christ. 

It is not the place of the church to make command- 
ments easy, or to adapt them to social or political 
circumstances, or to bring them into harmony 
with the age. The commandments for the gov- 
ernment of a church, and of the members of a 
church, are expressions of the eternal wisdom of 
God. To the will of God as revealed in his com- 
mandments men must be conformed. Their 
inventions as the centuries pass, their varying 
tastes or judgments, their prejudices, must not 
be put on the throne of the church. Christ is 
there. He is Lord in his own house. To his 
law we must submit in humility and love. 



A GOSPEL CHURCH 143 

7. Because Christ commands those who be- 
lieve on him to be baptized on profession of 
their faith, the members of a gospel church 
have been baptized. Baptism is an initial act 
of their obedience when they have passed from 
death unto life. It is a voluntary act on their 
part. They are not buried in the water like in- 
sensate logs and like logs lifted out. In the act 
of baptism they are willingly obedient to the 
command of the Lord. It is their choice. They 
have not been coerced. They have not been 
passive. They have been consciously and voli- 
tionally active. And this voluntary obedience 
has been intelligent. They have been baptized 
because of the commandment, but they have 
obeyed intelligently. They have seen meaning 
in the ordinance. They have consciously and 
intelligently yielded obedience to Christ, and at 
the same time proclaimed their faith in him who 
died and was buried and rose again. This obe- 
dience has been the obedience of an individual 
soul, conscious of a direct relation by faith to 
Jesus Christ, 

8. This relation of voluntary, intelligent, in- 
dividual obedience to Jesus Christ brings those 
who believe and obey into association with each 
other. Each has entered into covenant with 
Christ. Each at the same time has entered into 
covenant with other believers and has fellowship 
with them. The relation to Christ involves 
this. Christ associates himself with believers, 
saving them as individuals, but binding them 
together in mutual responsibilities, privileges and 
duties. They are members of his body, which 
is the church, and members one of another. 
Each man must bear a burden of his own, but 



144 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

each must be ready to help bear the burdens of 
others. Each must be set as a living stone in 
the temple Christ builds, and each must realize 
that each stone is related to every other stone in 
the temple. Christ is the Head of the church. 
Every member is related vitally to the Head. 
And every member therefore is related vitally to 
every other member. It is by this figure of the 
human body that Paul teaches church members 
that they are in covenant with Jesus Christ and, 
being in covenant with him, are also in covenant 
with each other. 

9. This covenant is the covenant of those who 
share in the faith and the fellowship of the gospel. 
The scope of the relationship is defined therefore 
in terms of grace and eternal life. This covenant 
is not like a contract among business men, where so 
much is paid for such and such a thing delivered, 
the attempt being made to equalize the terms of 
the barter. Nor is it like the obligations that 
bind together the members of a worldly order, 
where the payment of specific dues purchases 
the right to demand specific privileges. As 
Christ enters into covenant with us on the basis 
of grace, giving to us abundantly according to 
our need rather than our desert, so the members of 
a gospel church are in covenant with each other 
on a basis of grace. It is in the realm of Chris- 
tian faith and divine fellowship that we enter 
into covenant with Jesus Christ and with those 
who are members of his body. We need to mag- 
nify the covenant relation of church members; 
their kinship in Christ Jesus, their fellowship in 
the experience of grace, their ceremonial fellow- 
ship in keeping the ordinances, their fellowship 
in the service of the King. 



A &OSPEL CHURCH *45 

io. In this covenant relation believers observe 
the ordinances of Christ, being careful to per- 
petuate what he taught and ordained. This is 
the first expression of their consciousness of cove- 
nant relations. Being members of a community 
for which Christ has ordained specific practices, 
they draw near to each other and to him in their 
observance. If the church fails to maintain 
the ordinances commanded by him, these ordi- 
nances will disappear from the earth. 

Besides his ordinances they seek to perpetuate 
his teachings. While others may be willing to 
perpetuate his ethical teachings, the church will 
seek to perpetuate all his teachings. The world 
may understand the value of the commandment 
which is called the Golden Rule, but the world 
will not appreciate the value of divine worship, 
or the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's 
Supper. The church alone and not the world 
can understand the more sacred things of God, 
and appreciate the things which relate to the 
inner life and to the redemption wrought by 
Jesus Christ in the sacrifice of himself upon the 
cross. * 

ii. A gospel church is governed entirely by 
Christ. All its rules and regulations are based 
on his teachings. Man-made laws are rejected, 
whether they emanate from the worldly or the 
unworldly, from those who would curb the church 
or from those who would serve it. A church, 
if it be indeed a gospel church, seeks from the 
New Testament to know the laws of its govern- 
ment ordained by its Lord. Whatever is opposed 
to the letter or the spirit of the New Testament, 
however fully it may represent the wisdom of 
this world, or whatever promise it may seem to 



I46 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

contain of new efficiencies and wider conquests, 
must be rejected. The church does not need two 
heads. The church cannot but be embarrassed 
by laws and regulations proceeding from two 
sources. A church cannot serve two masters. 
It cannot serve Christ and men. The gospel 
church in order to preserve its integrity, and that 
it may be truly and completely loyal to Jesus 
Christ, may recognize no other Head. 

12. In the practice of this fidelity to its Head, 
the church may claim all the gifts, rights and 
privileges which the word of God promises. It 
may not presume beyond this. It may not de- 
mand for itself more than the Scriptures allow. 
It must not, like some arrogant worldly power, 
demand the thing it sees and likes. The gifts, 
rights and privileges of the church belong to the 
realm of the spiritual and unwordly. They have 
to do with the inner things of the soul. They 
refer to the treasure which may be laid up in 
heaven. They are in harmony with the spirit 
of humility and sacrifice which Christ exhibited 
in his own person and requires of his followers. 
Though they are exceedingly glorious, surpassing 
all earthly values, they do not come into conflict 
with earthly good, nor are they calculated to 
excite the envy or cupidity of worldly men. 

13. The officers of gospel churches, as clearly 
shown in the New Testament, are pastors and 
deacons. Pastors may be called bishops, the 
difference in name being due to the different as- 
pect of their work which may be under consid- 
eration. When the pastor is thought of not so 
much as a shepherd of the flock as an overseer of 
the affairs and interests of the flock, he may be 
called a bishop or overseer. But whatever the 



A GOSPEL CHURCH 147 

name, the duties are the same. A bishop is not 
a pastor of a particular kind or rank: every pas- 
tor is a bishop, as every bishop is a pastor. 

A deacon is a helper in the church, discharging 
certain duties for which he is competent, and to 
which he has been set apart by the church, in 
order that the pastor may have more time for 
other duties for which he has special qualifications. 
The qualifications and duties of pastors and dea- 
cons may be learned by a study of the New Tes- 
tament, especially the epistles of Paul to Timothy 
and Titus. 

14. Churches of today must be formed after 
the pattern of New Testament churches in prin- 
ciples and polity, in doctrinal character and life. 
They have now, as they had then, in the Great 
Commission of our Lord, their creed and task, 
their programme and purpose. This age with all its 
marvelous achievements, including the mighty 
advance in the cause of Christ, has not outgrown 
that Commission nor filled up its far-reaching 
perspective. The end is not yet and the distant 
heights still challenge our faith and faithfulness, 
our love and heroism. For emphasis, and as a 
concrete standard of church belief and doctrinal 
life, we insert here "The Essential Principles of 
a Baptist Church," outlined by Dr. Augustus H. 
Strong, as follows: 

"I would summarize the laws of Christ in this 
matter as requiring practical acknowledgement of: 

1. The unity, sufficiency and sole authority of 
Scripture as the rule both of doctrine and of polity; 

2. Credible evidence of regeneration and con- 
version as prerequisite to church membership; 

3. Immersion only, as answering to Christ's 
command of baptism, and to the symbolic mean- 
ing of the ordinance; 



I48 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

4. The order of the ordinances, baptism and 
the Lord's Supper, as of divine appointment, as 
well as the ordinances themselves; 

5. The right of each member of the church to 
a voice in its government and discipline; 

6. Each church, while holding fellowship with 
other churches, solely responsible to Christ; 

7. The freedom of the individual conscience, 
and the total independence of church and State. 

I ought to add, however, that the duty of every 
believer to be baptized on profession of faith im- 
plies his previous acceptance of Christ's deity 
and atonement. Baptism "into the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spir- 
it" can not imply supreme allegiance to the Father 
and only subordinate allegiance to Jesus Christ. 
Baptists cannot be Unitarians and Unitarians 
cannot be Baptists. Baptism is the outward 
sign of a previous spiritual union, by faith, with 
the Christ who died for our sins and rose again 
for our justification, and Baptists can have no 
church fellowship with those who deny the atone- 
ment of Christ.' ' 



A GOSPEL CHURCH V 149 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIII. 

i. Give some uses of the word " church." 

2. What is the meaning of the phrase "The 
visible church?' ' 

3. What should be the attitude of a church 
towards Christ and his commands? 

4. What kind of people will stay out of the 
church? 

5. What does the church member profess with 
respect to salvation? 

6. Why may the church not modify old com- 
mandments or make new ones? 

7. What does his baptism mean to the church 
member? 

8. What is the relation of Christians to each 
other? 

9. What is the basis of this covenant relation? 

10. What obligation rests upon the church 
with respect to the Christian ordinances and 
teachings? 

11. Who is the Head of the church on earth? 

12. What may a church expect in the way of 
blessings? 

13. What are the officers of gospel churches? 

14. State relation of a church to the commis- 
sion and the essential principles of a Baptist 
Church. 



XIV. OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S 
SUPPER. 

We believe that Christian Baptism is the immersion in 
water of a believer, 1 into the name of the Father, and Son, and 
Holy Ghost; 2 to show forth, in a solemn and beautiful emblem, 
our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its 
effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; 3 that 
it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation; and to 
the Lord's Supper; 4 in which the members of the church, by 
the sacred use of bread and wine are to commemorate together 
the dying love of Christ; 5 preceded always by solemn self- 
examination. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught 

VActs 8: 36-39. And the eunuch said, See here is water; what doth hinder me to 
be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest 
. . . And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he 
baptized him. (Matt. 3: 5, 6; John 3: 22, 23; 4: 1, 2; Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 16; 
Acts 2:38; 8:12; 16:32-34; 18:8.) 

2 Matt. 28 : 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 10: 17, 48; Gal. 3-27, 28.) 

8 Rom. 6: 4. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like 
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also 
should walk in newness of life. (Col. 2: 12; 1 Peter 3 : 20, 21 ; Acts 22 : 16.) 

4 Acts 2 : 41 , 42. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized : and the 
same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they 
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of 
bread, and in prayers. (Matt. 28: 19, 20; Acts and Epistles.) 

B l Cor. 11:26. As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the 
Lord's death till he come. (Matt. 26: 26-29; Mark 14: 22-25; Luke 22: 14-20.) 

6 1 Cor. 11 : 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, 
and drink of that cup. (1 Cor. 5:1,8; 10: 3-32; 11: 17-32; John 6: 26-71.) 
150 



BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

i. There are two ordinances belonging to a 
church of Christ. They are Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. One is at the threshold of the 
church, the other within it. They are not man- 
made ordinances. They did not originate with 
the apostolic group after the ascension of Christ. 
Each comes to us directly from him. Each was 
observed by him, each commanded by him. In 
the Jewish service there were many ordinances. 
They pointed forward to Jesus Christ. He at 
his coming fulfilled the prophecies enfolded in 
those ordinances. Their mission therefore was 
finished. But in order that his work, in fulfil- 
ment of the types and shadows of the past and 
in the redemption of men, might be impressively 
and pictorially represented forever, Christ put 
into the church which he established these two 
ordinances. They have the authority of his 
word, the sanctity of his personal relation to them 
and the solemn significance of his sacrifice for the 
redemption of men. They look back to him. 
They magnify his ministry of redemption. A 
complete obedience to Christ requires that these 
ordinances of the church follow the form and 
method presented by the example and teaching 
of our Lord and his apostles. 

2. The baptism which is an ordinance of a 
gospel church is a baptism of a believer only. 
This alone is properly called Christian baptism, 
that is, a baptism which yields to the command 
of Christ and conforms to the significance of the 
ordinance which he has commanded. If a man's 
heart is not right in the sight of God he cannot 
properly be baptized. Unless his baptism rep- 

151 



152 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

resents his own faith in Christ and expresses his 
passing from death to life, it is vain and void. 
Until the man has been regenerated by the Holy- 
Spirit and voluntarily enters upon the life of 
obedience to Christ's commands he is not fit to 
be baptized, and if he submit to the form of the 
ordinance such submission is no more than a form 
and a mockery. 

No one who is an unconscious subject of the 
act can properly be baptized. No one can be 
baptized for another, even as no one can be con- 
verted for another, or regenerated for another. 
No person who has not yet come to the years of 
understanding is able to discharge the duty of 
Christian baptism, since baptism in the Chris- 
tian sense requires the willing assent of the sub- 
ject. To baptize an unconscious babe is to go 
contrary to the clear revelation of the New 
Testament and to the whole spirit of the ordi- 
nance of baptism, and the significance of it. 

3. Christian baptism is three-fold in form; 
immersion, submersion, emersion. To say that 
immersion is baptism is inadequate. If there 
were an immersion only there would be a drown- 
ing. The same would be true if there were only 
immersion and submersion. Baptism is not 
Complete until there has been an emersion. 

By immersion the believer is put into the water, 
as into a grave. By submersion he is buried in 
the water, as in a grave. By emersion he comes 
forth from the water as from a grave. He is 
buried in the water as one who is dead. He is 
raised from the water as one who has been made 
alive. The figure is not of one who has been 
buried out of sight forever, but of one who has 
passed from death to life. Each act is significant, 



BAPTISM AND THE' LORD'S SUPPER 1 53 

It looks towards Christ and the believer's own 
life in Christ Jesus, made alive in him by the work 
of the Holy Spirit. 

4. Christian baptism is a confession of faith 
in Jesus Christ as Redeemer. It is not a con- 
fession of him as Prophet or King. It is a con- 
fession of him which places its hand on the cross, 
which goes with Joseph and Nicodemus as they 
reverently place the body in the new tomb in 
the garden, which rejoices with the women and 
the apostles on the first day of the week because 
the tomb is empty and an angel has said, "He is 
not here: he is risen. " 

By immersion there is figured the placing of 
the body of Jesus in the tomb. By submersion 
burial is figured, that burial which closed the tomb 
and rolled a stone before the door. By emersion 
the resurrection is set forth, the removal of the 
stone, the passing through the open door into 
the world of air and light and sound and service. 
He who is baptized thereby declares that he has 
found in Christ more than an example, more than 
an ethical leader, more than a social reformer, 
more than a friend of the people, more than a 
lord: he declares in that act that he has found 
one who, to save from sin, was slain, was buried 
out of sight, and rose again triumphant, vic- 
torious over death and the grave. 

5. In Christian baptism, a believer confesses 
and proclaims his own change of heart. He 
declares that he has been born again. He has 
died to sin and unbelief. He has passed out of 
the realm of disobedience and rebellion. He has 
entered into a new life. That new life is not the 
expression of a mere purpose of reform, but the 
exhibition of an ijiner spiritual life which has been 



154 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

implanted by the Holy Spirit. He is a new crea- 
ture. He wishes the old buried out of sight. He 
wishes to rise to newness of life. In his baptism 
all this is pictured. There is a burying, there is 
a rising as from the dead. The confession is a 
worthy and noble confession. It is instinct with 
a great hope. It is brave with holy joy. It 
claims a possession of infinite worth. 

6. This solemn and significant ordinance is 
performed in the name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Spirit. This sets forth the 
fact that baptism is related to the Trinity. This 
looks to the great fact that redemption is not the 
work of Christ alone, nor of the Father alone. 
God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
Spirit, are engaged for the salvation of men. 
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- 
self when the great redemption price was paid. 
And every one who is born again is born of the 
Spirit. At the Jordan, in the hour of Christ's 
baptism, the Father and the Son and the Spirit 
were present. The Spirit descended from heaven 
in the form of a dove upon the Son when he was 
baptized. And as the Son came up out of the 
water the Father said, "This my is beloved Son." 
In like manner when a believer is baptized the 
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are present. 
Fitting is it, therefore, as well as faithful to the 
revealed word, that he who is baptized should be 
baptized into the name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Baptism by its form bears intimate relation to 
the greatest work of God of which there has been 
any revelation to man. Greater than the making 
of worlds; greater than the development of na- 
tions on the earth; greater than all the progress 



BAPTISM AND THE LORDS SUPPER 155 

of civilization, has been the redemption of man 
by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy 
Spirit. These, the three in the triune God, there- 
fore are appropriately named in this ordinance. 

7. The ordinance of baptism should be obeyed 
by every Christian believer if obedience is physic- 
ally possible. When the thief on the cross be- 
lieved on Jesus Christ and was forgiven, it was 
not physically possible for him to be baptized. 
There are some cases, as of people converted on 
their death beds, and of cripples, in which bap- 
tism cannot be performed. But this does not 
diminish the binding character of the command 
upon those who can be baptized. God never 
requires impossibilities, and the idea that God 
will condemn a man for failing to do an impos- 
sible thing is an insult to God. On the other 
hand, if, because He does not require the impos- 
sible, but admits exceptions to His great rule, one 
who can obey deliberately disobeys, that also is 
an insult to God. Who am I that I should not 
obey an explicit command of Jesus Christ? Who 
are you that you should think yourself excused 
from an obligation which our Lord has placed 
upon every disciple? Since in the very nature 
of this ordinance, and in the supreme authority 
of him who commands, there is a sacred reason 
for obedience, no believer is exempt from obe- 
dience to either of the great ordinances. 

8. The ordinance of baptism is prerequisite 
to full association and fellowship in a gospel 
church. There can be no full and proper asso- 
ciation with the church except in the way appoint- 
ed by the Head of the church. Baptism is the 
first of the sacred duties which Christ lays upon 
those who believe in him. The meaning of this 



I56 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

ordinance suggests the priority of this duty. It 
is a sign of the passing from the old into the new 
life. It is the believer's confession to all men 
that he has come into the company of the children 
of God. An unbaptized believer therefore should 
be regarded as an anomaly. If a man should 
associate in any degree or measure with Chris- 
tian people, calling himself a Christian, professing 
that he has faith in Christ and claiming a part in 
the promises, and yet refusing to be baptized, he 
would be under obligation to explain his failure 
to obey this command. 

And that explanation would need to be some- 
thing more than a statement concerning his tastes 
or notions or whims, or the fact that his mother 
or father or uncle was never baptized. This is 
too great a matter for trifling, even looking at it 
solely from the standpoint of the meaning of the 
ordinance. But when we read of Christ's own 
words at his baptism, and in the last great charge 
to his disciples, and observe what was the prac- 
tice and teaching of the apostles, we are left in 
no doubt as to the place which baptism should 
have at the threshold of the church. 

9. Baptism properly precedes the Lord's supper. 
This is the relation which the two ordinances have 
to each other as indicated by what they are and 
what they signify. One is the sign of the begin- 
ning of a new life, the other the sign of the suste- 
nance of that life. Christ was baptized at the 
beginning of his ministry : he established the Lord's 
Supper at the close of it. Christ commanded 
the apostles to make disciples, to baptize them 
and to teach all the things which he commanded. 
How they interpreted that command is made 
clear by their practice. When multitudes, _or 



BAMISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER 1 57 

individuals, having heard the gospel became in- 
quirers and believers, asking what they should do, 
the answer invariably, where that answer is re- 
ported, required that faith should be followed 
forthwith by baptism. Then in the out-living 
of their new life of faith, there followed the break- 
ing of bread. 

In the primitive days it was all very natural, 
simple and logical. And in these later days there 
should be such simple and prompt obedience to 
the will of the Lord as set forth in the Scriptures 
that no questionings would arise in regard to the 
order of these ordinances. It is only when men 
meddle with the first ordinance that trouble 
arises concerning its relation to the second. Let 
every believer be baptized on the profession of 
his faith, as is explicitly required by the teaching 
of Scriptures, and then let him with a free and 
eager heart sit down at the Lord's table, an hum- 
ble, obedient, joyful disciple. 

10. In the Lord's Supper believers commemo- 
rate the dying love of Christ. The history of 
its establishment and the form of its observance 
make clear this meaning and purpose. It was 
established by Christ the night before he was 
crucified. The first to partake of it were the 
faithful men to whom he had again and again 
foretold his death of sacrificial love. He blessed 
the bread and brake it. He prayed over the cup 
and gave it to his disciples. His words were full 
of a quiet solemnity, an unspeakable love, an 
eternal meaning. "This do in remembrance of 
me," he said as the moments passed. 

An ordinance established under such circum- 
stances cannot but make a solemn appeal to those 
who love him. And the sacred use of the bread 



I58 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

and the wine, in the observance of the supper, 
have a holy and tender significance. The bread 
is broken as his body was. The wine is poured 
out, as his blood was. The completeness of his 
sacrifice is set forth; and as the believer eats the 
bread and drinks the wine he solemnly confesses 
that this sacrifice was for him, and that only as 
Christ's life is imparted to him can he have a 
part in the eternal life which Christ came to the 
earth to provide for as many as should believe on 
his name. 

11. The Lord's Supper is to be observed by 
those only who have hope in his death. The 
nature of the ordinance, not less than the teachings 
of Scripture, fixes this limitation. The supper 
is no place for an unbeliever. It is no place for 
the man who still companies with those who cru- 
cified the Lord. It is not for unthinking chil- 
dren, who would take the bread and the wine 
without understanding the meaning of the broken 
bread and the crimson cup. It is not for world- 
lings who love the bread of self-indulgence and 
the cup of sinful pleasure. It is not for hypo- 
crites who make a fair show in the flesh while 
their hearts are full of iniquity. It is not for the 
shallow and selfish despisers of the grace of 
Christ, who hear his call and will not obey, who 
see his cross while their hearts are unmelted, who 
refuse to come to him that they might have life. 
It is mockery for any one of these to partake of 
the Lord's Supper. 

But it is a sacred and imperative duty for every 
disciple, be he strong or weak, exulting in vic- 
tories or humbled by defeats, conspicuous and 
joyful in service or mourning in obscurity, to 
take the broken bread and the wine poured out, 
symbols of the dying love of our Lord. 



BAPTISM AND THE LORDS SUPPER I59 

12. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper calls 
for honest self-examination, to precede every 
observance of it. The sacredness of the ordi- 
nance calls for reverence in the approach to it. 
The bread that is broken and eaten, is a picture 
of the broken body of Christ. The wine that is 
poured out and is to be drunk is a picture of the 
flowing blood of Christ. He was wounded for our 
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, the 
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by 
his stripes we are healed. It was because of our 
sins that he suffered. And now as we approach 
the supper we need to examine our hearts to see 
if there be any wicked way in us. Our hearts 
being wayward, our flesh weak, the onsets of 
evil many, the allurements of sin enticing and 
deceptive, the spirit of the world hostile to the 
spirit of Christ, there is occasion for us to search 
our hearts that we may reject whatever of evil 
thought, desire or purpose has lodged there. Of 
all hours none is so fitting for this as the hour in 
which we are about to commemorate the dying 
love of Jesus Christ in the " sacred use of bread 
and wine" in the Lord's Supper. 

13. These solemn and beautiful ordinances — 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper — as held by our 
people through the ages, are supplemental in 
meaning. They have unity in the oneness of 
design; their integrity requires proper spirit, form 
and purpose in their observance. 

They have a word therefore for the past as 
monument and memorial, for the present as com- 
memoration, privilege and obligation, for the 
future as consummation and glorious triumph. 
They do more than look backward to the death, 
burial and resurrection of our Lord; more than look 



l60 WiH At BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

outward as the believer's confession of a new life 
in him; they look forward also to the glorious 
day of our Lord's return, when the promises of 
his resurrection shall be fulfilled — when he him- 
self shall return in his glory and all the holy an- 
gels with him, when the dead shall hear his voice 
and respond to his resurrection power. 

14. The views of our fathers concerning these 
great ordinances are confirmed by the foremost 
scholarship of modern times. The following ex- 
amples could be increased almost without num- 
ber. 

Dr. Augustus H. Strong, Baptist. 

"These ordinances and their order are doctrines in- 
carnate — living expressions of the inmost reality of the 
Christian faith — monumental symbols of the truth of 
God." 
Dr. William Sanday, Church of England, concerning Baptism: 
"It expresses symbolically a series of acts correspond- 
ing to the redeeming acts of Christ; Immersion = Death; 
Submersion = Burial (the ratification of death); Emer- 
gence == Resurrection." 
Dr. Plummer, Presbyterian, concerning the ordinance: 

"It is only when baptism is administered by immersion 
that its full significance is seen." 
Dr. A. T. Bledsoe, in Methodist Quarterly Review: 

"With all our searching, we have been unable to find in 
the New Testament a single expressed declaration or word in 
favor of infant baptism. We justify the rite, therefore , wholly 
on the ground of logical inference, and not on any expressed 
word of Christ and his apostles. This may, perhaps, be 
deemed by some of our readers a strange position for a Pedo- 
baptist. It is, by no means, however, a singular position. 
Hundreds of learned Pedobaptists have come to the same con- 
clusion, especially since the New Testament has been subjected 
to a clearer, more conscientious, and more candid exegesis 
than was formerly practiced by controversialists." 



BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER l6l 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIV. 

i. What are the ordinances of a Christian 
church? 

2. What may properly be called Christian bap- 
tism? 

3. Describe the three parts of Christian bap- 
tism. 

4. What confession concerning Christ does a 
believer make when he is baptized? 

5. What confession does he make concerning 
himself? 

6. Discuss the formula used in baptism. 

7. Why is baptism obligatory? 

8. Why should baptism precede church mem- 
bership? 

9. Why should baptism precede the Lord's 
Supper? 

10. What gives sacredness to the Lord's Sup- 
per? 

n. Why should believers only partake of the 
Lord's Supper? 

12. Why should self-examination precede the 
Lord's Supper? 

13. What word has Baptism and the Supper 
for the past? For the present? For the future? 

14. Give the testimony of scholarship concern- 
ing the ordinances. 



XV. OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 

We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day, 
or Christian Sabbath; 1 and is to be kept sacred to religious 
purposes, 2 by abstaining from all secular labor and sinful 
recreations; 3 by the devout observance of all the means of 
grace, both private 4 and public; 6 and by preparation for that 
rest that remaineth for the people of God. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*Acts 20: 7. Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together 
to break bread Paul preached unto them. (Gen. 2:3; Col. 2: 16, 17; Mark 2 : 27; 
John 20: 19; 1 Cor. 16: 1, 2.) 

2 Exod. 20:8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Rev. 1: 10. I 
was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Ps. 118: 24. This is the day which the Lord 
hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 

3 Isa. 58: 13, 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy 
pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord , hon- 
orable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own 
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the 
Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee 
with the heritage of Jacob. 

fPs. 118: 15. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the 
righteous. 

*Heb. 10: 24, 25. ... Not forsaking the asesmbling of ourselves together as the 
manner of some is. Acts 11: 26. A whole year they assembled themselves with 
the church, and taught much people. 

•Heb. 4: 3-11. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. 
162 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH 

i. Sabbath-day means rest-day. It is appar- 
ent that from the beginning it was the will of 
God that man should rest one day in seven. Man 
seems to have been so created as to have required 
not only rest during a part of each day of twenty 
four hours, as the rest of sleep at night, but also 
to rest during one of the days of the week. Where 
this need has been recognized, and there has been 
the most consistent respite from accustomed toils, 
with such relaxation, recreation, or change of 
activity as were most in harmony with the con- 
ception of healthful rest, man has made greatest 
progress in the higher developments of charac- 
ter and achievement. In the earliest writings 
of history we find a rest-day recognized, and while 
we only later find the reason for it recorded, there 
is ground for believing it contrary to the will 
of God from the beginning, and contrary to His 
will now, for any race or class or community of 
men to lack one day of rest in seven. 

2. The Hebrews were commanded to keep the 
day of rest holy. The first temptation that would 
meet men on their day of respite from toil would 
be to make the day unholy. From the beginning 
idleness has been fraught with moral danger. 
"Satan finds some mischief still 
For idle hands to do." 
There was need of an explicit command in re- 
spect to the hallowing of the Sabbath or rest- 
day, if that day was not to become a curse in- 
stead of a blessing. Holy employment of the 
hours of the day, and holy engagement of the 
mind, came to be required. It came to be not 
only a rest-day when ordinary duties ceased, 

163 



164 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

but a religious day, when God was worshipped, 
His law pondered, His goodness exalted, and 
when the hearts of the people were especially 
summoned to allegiance to their God. 

God blessed the Sabbath day in many ways 
and exalted it before the eyes of the people. As 
they obeyed the Sabbath law they were pros- 
pered, and adversity overtook them when they 
disobeyed it. Some of the darkest chapters of 
the history of the Hebrews are those chapters 
which tell of the calamities which overtook the 
people when they desecrated the Sabbath day. 

3. In the beginning the Sabbath day commemo- 
rated the completing of the works of creation. 
God was represented as working six great days 
and resting the seventh. In like manner men were 
to work six of their days and rest the seventh. 
When the law was put into effect among the 
Hebrews as a new nation, the inheritors and pos- 
sessors of the promised land, there was an addi- 
tional reason given them for hallowing the Sab- 
bath day: it was to be a commemoration of their 
deliverance from Egypt. Not only was a day of 
rest needed to repair weary bodies and refresh 
jaded minds; not only was it fitting that on this 
day of quiet rest men should be aware of their 
fellowship with God both in work and in rest; 
but also it was required of those chosen people, 
whom God called out of the land of Egypt, de- 
livering them from slavery and oppression, and 
exalting them to become a nation, that, on this 
day of rest and religious fellowship, in particular 
they should count their mercies and give thanks 
and worship to their Deliverer. 

4. The Christian Sabbath has a greater deliver- 
ance to commemorate than that which the Hebrews 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH 165 

celebrated. It commemorates the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ. That was a deliverance of the 
Son of man from death. It marked his victory 
over the grave. But his resurrection was more 
than an individual victory. By his victory he 
led captivity captive. As he lifted himself from 
the grave he lifted from the prison-house of 
death all who believe in him. As Moses led the 
Hebrews across the Red Sea and on their jour- 
ney towards Canaan, so Jesus Christ, rising from 
the dead, led his people from the realm of death 
and despair to the land of the heavenly promise. 
This was a greater deliverance; infinitely greater 
in quality; greater also in virtue of the number 
affected by it. The deliverance accomplished by 
Christ was not for a single race, nor for a single 
generation. By his resurrection all believers of 
all races and lands and of all ages were delivered. 
The Christian Sabbath commemorates this de- 
liverance. 

5. With the establishment of Christianity the 
rest-day passed from the seventh day to the first 
day. The seventh day had been the rest day of 
the Hebrews, their holy day. The first day be- 
came the holy day of the Christians. Christ 
made it significant by rising from the dead on 
that day. And, so far as the record indicates, 
in every instance of his appearing to his disciples 
after his resurrection it was on the first day. The 
New Testament indicates that it was the practice 
of the apostles to meet on the first day of the week. 
It may be that Jesus gave them an explicit com- 
mand so to do; but of this we have no revelation. 
It may be that they were divinely guided by the 
facts of the resurrection and the appearings of 
Jesus to commemorate the day which he had thus 



l66 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

hallowed. But whatever the fact or facts that 
guided them, that the early disciples were led to 
keep holy the first day of the week, sanctifying 
it to Christian uses, is clear and full of meaning. 

6. This change from the seventh to the 
first day of the week had wonderful significance. 
The young church was delivered from the fet- 
ters and the weights which the Pharisees had put 
upon the seventh day. During Christ's minis- 
try he had protested again and again against the 
Pharisaic perversion of the seventh day. His 
final protest against that perversion may be re- 
garded as his lying in the grave on the seventh 
day and rising on the first day, so making the first 
day the most glorious of all days, in that it wit- 
nessed the resurrection of the Son of God from 
the dead. 

! It is easy to see how great a blessing this change 
of day was to the Christian church. If it had 
been bound by the seventh day, the fetters of 
Pharisaism would have been upon the church. 
Escape from the thraldom of an arrogant legalism 
would have been well nigh impossible. This 
would have hindered the work of the church among 
the Jews. It would have hindered it also among 
the Gentiles. In the providence of God the day 
was changed. The Christian Sabbath commem- 
orated the resurrection of Christ, and the rest 
day became a glorious day in its spirit, its mem- 
ories and the holy uses to which it was put by 
those who had learned the mind of the Master. 

7. Christian believers are under a sacred obli- 
gation to hallow the Christian Sabbath. All the 
force of past commandments is here concentrated. 
Only the form and day have changed: the sub- 
stance remains. And as redemption is greater 



THE. CHRISTIAN SABBATH 167 

than the giving of the land of Canaan to a na- 
tion, so is the meaning of the Sabbath greater to 
Christians than the old Sabbath to the Hebrews 
who came up from the land of Egypt. Their 
Sabbath was to be different from other days. 
Our Sabbath must be different from other days. 
If they failed to hallow their Sabbath they were 
guilty. If we fail to hallow our Sabbath we are 
guilty. 

The specific regulations of the Mosaic law, for 
application in Palestine among an agricultural 
and pastoral people, do not apply in every in- 
stance to all our modern conditions of life; but 
the underlying principle applies, and we are guilty 
if we evade it. The Christian Sabbath is a day 
for rest, for remembering God and our Saviour 
Jesus Christ, for such employment and activities 
only as are in harmony with that great word of 
Christ, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not 
man for the Sabbath." 

8. This word is against seven days of labor in 
the week. The man who deliberately chooses 
an employment in which he has no rest day, and 
especially if his motive be that he may get seven 
days' pay each week, is breaking God's law. The 
man who becomes so immersed in business during 
the six days of the week that the Sabbath is spent 
in planning his business instead of worshipping 
his God, is breaking God's law. The man who 
counts it a light thing, when convenience seems 
to call, to start the machinery of weekly toil on 
the Sabbath, is setting an evil example and show- 
ing that he has small appreciation of the sacred- 
ness of the day which Christ hallowed by his resur- 
rection from the dead. There are works of ne- 
cessity, religion and mercy which may properly 



l68 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

be done on the Sabbath. Beyond this he who 
labors on the Sabbath is sinning against his God, 
against society and against his own soul. 

9. Amusements and pleasures which would 
lead the soul from God cannot be indulged in 
on the Sabbath without sin* There are amuse- 
ments and pleasures which are sinful any day of 
the week, and should be rejected by all Chris- 
tian people; but when these amusements and 
pleasures are engaged in on the holy Sabbath day 
the sin is the more shocking. There are other 
amusements and pleasures which in themselves 
are not sinful, if engaged in at proper times, in 
proper places and with the proper spirit; but to 
engage in these on the Sabbath day is to dese- 
crate the day. Games and sports, in the house or 
in the field, at home or abroad, are out of harmony 
with the spirit and purpose of the Lord's day. 
These tend to destroy its sanctity, nullify its 
purpose and make it a day of fatigue instead of 
rest, of moral deterioration and waste instead of 
moral and spiritual upbuilding. 

10. The duties belonging to the Sabbath day 
are not negative only. The old Hebrew command- 
ment was positive, " Remember the Sabbath day 
to keep it holy." Christ by his example and 
precepts taught that the Sabbath was a day not 
simply to abstain from ill doing, but to engage in 
well doing: "It is lawful for a man to do good on 
the Sabbath." Idleness is not the best rest. A 
day of indolent ease is not usually a day of rest 
in any proper sense. There are acts of worship, 
of helpfulness to the untaught or suffering or 
friendless, which are full of the spirit of Christ. 
He who would keep the Christian Sabbath holy 
will not find it difficult to make a programme 



, 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH 169 

which, while giving new vigor to the current of 
his own life, will multiply blessings among other 
men. 

11. In this positive activity in harmony with 
the spiritual idea, there will be activity of the mind. 
Care should be taken to sep that this activity is 
consistent with the spirit and purpose of the 
Sabbath. This care will be exercised in the choice 
of reading. To send our thoughts directly away 
from religious truth and duty by our reading is 
to desecrate the day. To engage in conversation 
in which unworthy impulses or attitudes of the 
mind are stimulated or caused, is to desecrate the 
day. The Sabbath day is a day to encourage 
noble thinking, to stimulate holy desires, to 
strengthen godly purposes, to reflect upon the 
things which make for righteousness and peace. 
He who lets his mind run in mean paths on the 
Sabbath desecrates the day and harms his soul. 

12. The Sabbath should be a day of religious 
exercises both private and public. It is the 
duty of believers to assemble for worship. Those 
who forsake the assembling of themselves together, 
lose spiritual help and fail in their duty as serv- 
ants of God. We have social obligations. As 
companies of believers engaging in glad worship 
we bear a strong testimony to those who are 
without. We cannot release ourselves from this 
obligation without failing in one of the noblest 
uses of the Sabbath possible to men. 

But the duty of private acts of devotion is 
not less binding. The Sabbath is a day when 
believers should read such books, and especially 
the Bible, as are adapted to help them forward in 
grace. Happy the man who loves God and 
His Sabbath with a love so real and fervent that, 



170 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

engaging in religious duties at home and abroad, 
he shall have joy in the things of God and no taste 
for the things of the world. 

13. In all Sabbath observance there should 
be remembrance of the rest that remaineth for 
the people of God. This hope Christ gave to his 
disciples. By this hope the apostles were sus- 
tained in their labors, pains and persecutions. 
The hope of heaven gave to the early Christian 
message brightness and power. In all acts of 
spiritual quickening the future world has bright- 
ened before the eyes of men with a glorious prom- 
ise. In the hurry and noise of daily life we tend 
to forget that there is another and better world. 
We busy our thoughts with what is here and now. 
The Sabbath day is a day in which to remember 
that one has here no continuing city. It may 
become, and properly observed will become, a 
foretaste of that heavenly Sabbath to which the 
years are carrying us rapidly. On that day it 
is fitting that we seek to prepare ourselves for 
the rest that is to come. 



THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH Ifl 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XV. 

i. What may be said as to the meaning and 
antiquity of the Sabbath? 

2. Why did God command the Hebrews to 
keep the Sabbath day holy? 

3. What did the Sabbath commemorate at 
first? What later? 

4. What does the Christian Sabbath commem- 
orate? 

5. What change was made in respect to the 
holy day? 

6. What advantage came to the Christian 
church by this change of day? 

7. Why are we guilty if we do not hallow this 
Christian Sabbath? 

8. Why should a man avoid ordinary work on 
the Sabbath? 

9. Why may the Lord's Day not be made a 
day of games, sport and play? 

10. What kind of acts are appropriate to that 
day?* 

11. How should the mind be employed on the 
Lord's Day? 

12. What is a man's duty with respect to acts 
of devotion on the Lord's Day? 

13. What thoughts of the future should be 
encouraged on the Lord's Day? 



XVI. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, 
for the interests and good order of human society; 1 and that 
magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and 
obeyed; 2 except only in things opposed to the will of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, 3 who is the only Lord of the conscience, 
and the Prince of the kings of the earth. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

iRom. 13: 1-7. The powers that be are ordained of God. . . . For rulers are not 
a terror to good works, but to the evil. (Deut. 16: 18; 2 Sam. 23: 3; Exod. 18: 21- 
23; Jer.30:21.) 

2 Matt. 22:21. Render therefore unto C%sar the things which are Ceazar; 
and unto God the thiDgs that are God's . (Titus 3 : 1 ; 1 Peter 2 : 1 3 ; 1 Tim. 2 : 1-3.) 

•Acts 5: 29. We ought to obey God rather than men. Matt. 10: 28. Fear not 
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. (Dan. 3: 15-18; 6 : 7- 
10; Acts 4: 18-20.) 

*Matt. 23: 10. One is your Master, even Christ. Rom . 14: 4. Who art thou 
that judgest another man's servant. Rev. 19: 16. And he hath on his vesture 
and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 
(Ps. 72:11; Ps. 2; Rom. 14:9-13.) 
172 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

1. Civil government is the government of the 
people as members of a community. Ecclesi- 
astical government relates to the church, the 
church being the ecclesia. It is a government 
along the lines of the spiritual and affects only 
those who belong to the church. Civil govern- 
ment affects all the members of the community, 
and is for the good of human society as a whole. 
Whether men are believers or unbelievers, ad- 
herents of the church or its enemies, they come 
under the guidance and control of civil govern- 
ment. Ecclesiastical government deals with men 
as church members; civil government deals with 
men as citizens. Ecclesiastical government pre- 
scribes duties within the body of believers: civil 
government prescribes duties within human so- 
ciety at large. It determines rules and regulations 
for the welfare of all the people of the community, 
protecting them in their rights, restraining them 
from doing harm to the persons or properties of 
others, and providing and prescribing such in- 
stitutions or customs as shall be good for the com- 
munity. 

2. Without civil government there would not 
be good order. Each individual would be a law 
unto himself. If a good man, he would respect 
the rights of others. If an evil man, he would 
ignore the rights of others. If covetous, he would 
lay hold dishonestly of property not his own. 
If vengeful, he would damage the property or 
person of the man he hated. Under conditions 
like these, might rather than right would deter- 
mine conduct. There would be perpetual con- 
tention and conflict among the people. Strength, 

173 



174 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

time and resources would be wasted in the strug- 
gle. Civilization could not exist; savagery would 
be the habit of life, and men would live as brute 
beasts. 

3. Without civil government there could be 
no concerted action for the common good. Evil- 
doers could not be restrained: every attempt to 
restrain them would tend towards the creation 
of factions and feuds. The community would 
be split up into hostile groups, each seeking to 
protect itself against the other, or to profit itself 
at the expense of the other. Such a state of 
mind on the part of the people would make con- 
certed action for the welfare of the community 
impossible. There could be no guiding plan, no 
dominant purpose, no agreement for a common 
end. Until government of some kind is evolved, 
making possible the movement of the community 
as a whole towards a common object, the many are 
at the mercy of the strong and violent, the pro- 
tection of the community and of the individuals 
belonging to it is impossible, and no work can 
be undertaken for the public good 7 , be it the build- 
ing of a bridge or a village wall, the massing of 
an army to resist an invader or the removal of 
a nuisance to prevent disease. Civilization can- 
not begin until civil government of some kind 
begins. 

4. Civil government is of divine appointment. 
God has created man for community life. It is 
not good for man to be alone. It is not good for 
a family to be alone. God has made men and 
families to have wider human relationships, and 
has ordained laws for these human relationships. 
These laws have in them the great principles of 
civil government. It is upon the basis of the law 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT 175 

which God has ordained for the treatment of 
man by man that all civil government properly 
rests. When civil government protects the in- 
dividual in his rights, it is enforcing a divine law. 
When civil government promotes the welfare of 
the community, it is carrying out the will of God. 
No good law was ever agreed upon by a community 
of men, no good thing was ever done for the wel- 
fare of the community, which was not based upon 
the laws of righteousness which God has prescribed 
for human relationships. Therefore civil gov- 
ernment is properly declared to be of God's 
appointment. 

5. This does not mean that a particular form 
of national government is of divine appointment 
for all ages, all races and all lands. But some form 
of government, embodying the divine laws of 
community life, is of divine appointment. The 
man who lived in the patriarchal age could not 
say, "The patriarchal form of government is the 
divinely appointed form of government, and that 
only." The subject of a king cannot say, "The 
monarchical form of government, and that only, 
is of divine appointment." The citizen of a re- 
public cannot say, "The democratic form of 
government, and only the democratic form of 
government, is of divine appointment." It is 
civil government which is of divine appointment, 
not the particular form by which civil govern- 
ment is secured. In that form there may be 
features that are not in harmony with the thought 
of God. In the administration of the government 
there may be methods which He condemns. 
What is of divine appointment is community 
government, government which seeks to have 
men sustain to each other those relations which 



I76 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

are in harmony with His will as set forth in His 
laws and commandments. 

6. Those who are set in authority are to be 
prayed for. This applies to all who are set in 
authority, whether the heads of nations, or dis- 
tricts, or cities. It applies to those who make 
laws, to those who interpret laws, to those who 
execute laws. They are to be prayed for because 
heavy responsibilities rest upon them, and be- 
cause they are beset by great temptations. They 
are to be prayed for because they are fallible men, 
liable to err in judgment or fail in righteousness. 
As the agents of a government divinely appointed, 
they are servants of God, and it is fitting that the 
sons of God pray that these servants may have 
wisdom and strength rightly to discharge the 
task laid upon them under the law of God. Upon 
their wisdom and righteousness depend great is- 
sues relating to the happiness, welfare and virtue 
of the people; therefore men who pray should 
cry constantly to God in their behalf, to the end 
that, saved from folly and error, unrighteousness 
and every false way, they may carry out the divine 
will in civil government for the blessing of all 
the people. 

7. Men who are set in authority in civil govern- 
ment are to be honored for the sake of their office. 
We may be unable to honor a man as an individual 
whom nevertheless we ought to treat with respect 
as an official of the government. In such a case 
it is not the man that we honor but the office. 
He is the agent of God who, whatever may be 
his individual faults or sins, by the appointment or 
permission of God is for the time God's servant 
in the civil government. In all this Paul gave us 
both example and precept. When he said, 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT 177 

"Most excellent Felix," he was not declaring the 
private character of Felix to be excellent, but 
was giving honor to the exalted office in which 
Felix was placed in the civil government. It is 
not only an evil thing for a nation, but it is also 
an offence against Scriptural teaching, when the 
attitude of the people towards their rulers is the 
attitude of bitter contempt or ever careless dis- 
respect. 

8. Rulers are to be obeyed: lawlessness is no 
part of the Christian religion. Christ submitted 
to the law, honoring the Sabbath and paying 
taxes. It was only the false additions to the 
law, made by foolish teachers, which he opposed; 
and in so doing he was the more truly obedient 
to the law. In an age of revolution, when gov- 
ernmental evils abounded, he consistently refused 
to be an insurrectionist. Paul kept the law and 
insisted that those who became disciples through 
him should keep it. It was by him that civil 
government was habitually exalted and every 
tendency of the Christian converts to become 
lawless was resisted. If the Christian disciples, 
on the discovery that there were evils in govern- 
ment, had straightway become each man a law 
unto himself, revolution and anarchy would have 
resulted, to the destruction of peace, the wasting 
of government and the hindrance of the Christian 
faith. 

But though obedience to law, even when gov- 
ernments were imperfect, was taught, both Christ 
and Paul by their teachings respecting the rela- 
tion of men to each other set in motion currents 
which tended to the transformation of govern- 
ment, streams which have brought blessing to 
many as they have swept down through the cen- 



178 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

turies, and are broadening in their flow as the 
generations pass. 

9. While obedience to law is a Christian duty, 
there are circumstances under which a higher 
duty intervenes. It is when a ruler commands 
that which is contrary to the law of God. In 
such case a ruler is to be resisted, the character 
of that resistance being determined by the cir- 
cumstances of the case. A man may obey the 
law when that obedience is to his detriment, but 
he may not obey the law when that obedience 
would be a sin against God. A man, for example, 
may pay taxes which he feels are unjust, but if 
it were demanded that he pay taxes to support 
schools for the teaching of atheism, or murder, or 
adultery, his duty to God would require that he 
resist. 

The man who evades his taxes because he thinks 
the charges excessive, or becomes a smuggler 
because he believes in free trade, is breaking the 
law of civil government under circumstances 
which bring him under the condemnation of the 
law of God. In these cases the man is putting 
himself above civil government in matters in- 
volving only a judgment as to what is a proper 
tax rate or the proper relation of one's own 
nation to the admission of the products of another 
nation. But when the case is different, and a 
man is ordered to do that which he cannot do 
without breaking the law of God, then he must 
disobey, on the ground that he must obey God 
rather than man. 

10. In all this the Christian believer is to dis- 
tinguish carefully between prejudice and con- 
science. In determining what laws and rules of 
civil government we shall resist, if any, we are 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT 179 

always in great danger of making prejudice the 
arbiter of judgment. It is easy to think we have 
a scruple of conscience when it is no more than a 
prejudice of the mind. 

Prejudice relates to a judgment as to whether 
a matter is wise or unwise, right or wrong, ne- 
cessary or unnecessary, timely or untimely; 
conscience relates to the soul's decision as to its 
action in a matter involving right and wrong. 
A man, for example, may have a prejudice against 
displaying the national flag daily on a public 
building, and no harm come from this peculiar 
prejudice; but if he should confuse that prejudice 
with conscience, and proceed to tear down the 
flag, he would be committing the folly of the man 
who mistakes a prejudice for a conscientious 
scruple and would become in spirit an anarchist. 

11. In all things the Christian believer is to 
place Christ above all other rulers. He is King 
of kings and Lord of lords. But this does not 
mean that Christ is at the head of a civil govern- 
ment on the earth, in which he is represented by 
a vice-regent, and to which all other civil govern- 
ments must be subordinate. Nor does it mean 
that ecclesiastical government and civil govern- 
ment should be linked together organically, the 
civil government being the servant of the eccle- 
siastical. It means that Christ's law is the high- 
est law, and that whenever civil law is in conflict 
with Christ's law, we must obey Christ's law. 

It means that every Christian believer should 
so live as a citizen as to do his utmost to establish 
in human society such conditions as shall most 
perfectly represent the thought of Christ for men 
in their community life. 

In all this there is to be no organic relation of 



180 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

a Christian church to the civil government. Each 
is to do its work apart from organic relation to 
the other; and yet each will serve the other. 
Civil government will not itself hamper the church 
in the pursuit of its high mission, nor will it per- 
mit any one so to hamper it. It will treat the 
church as an organization within the state, en- 
titled to the rights and privileges of any group of 
citizens united together for a proper end, and to 
be especially respected because of its high pur- 
poses; but it is not to give to the church presents 
or privileges at the cost of the whole community. 
If the civil government diverts money raised by 
taxes to the support of the church, or gives it 
presents of lands, or grants it representation in 
the councils of the government, the true relation 
of the church and state, of ecclesiastical and civil 
government, have been perverted. 

And if the church attempts to govern the state 
by seeking political power as an organization, 
or representation of any kind that would give 
it political power, the church has departed from 
its simple and heavenly mission and has weakened 
its hold upon its great task. The church as a 
spiritual body is to teach, transform and inspire 
men, so that they shall go out into the community 
with clear vision and brave hearts, by their ac- 
tivity as members of that community, rather 
than as representatives speaking in the name 
of another organization, guiding civil gov- 
ernment to do the will of Him by whom it was 
appointed for its specific and divine mission 
among men. 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT l8l 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVI, 

i. What is civil government? 

2. What would be the condition without civil 
government? 

3. Why is civil government necessary to human 
welfare? 

4. In what sense is civil government of divine 
appointment? 

5. Does this mean that a particular form of 
government is necessarily of divine appointment? 

6. Why should the leaders in civil government 
be prayed for? 

7. Why should we honor civil rulers? 

8. Why should rulers be obeyed? 

9. Under what circumstances must rulers be 
resisted? 

10. Distinguish between a prejudice and a 
scruple of conscience. 

11. What is the proper relation of a church 
to civil government? 



XVII. OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE 
WICKED. 

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference 
between the righteous and the wicked; 1 that such only as 
through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in his 
esteem; 2 while all such as continue in impenitence and un- 
belief are in his sight wicked, and under the curse; 3 and this 
distinction holds among men both in and after death. 4 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

1 Mal. 3: 18. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the 
wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. (Prov 
12:26; Isa. 5:20 Gen. 18:23; Acts 10:34, 35; Rom. 6: 16.) 

2 Rom. 1:17. The just shall live by faith. Rom. 7: 6. We are delivered from 
the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness 
of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. 1 John 2: 29. If ye know that he 
is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 
(Uohn3:7;Rom.6:18,22;lCor.ll:32;Prov.ll:31;lPeter4:17,18.) 

3 1 John 5: 19. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in 
wickedness. Gal. 3: 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the 
curse. (John 3: 36; Isa. 57: 21; Ps. 10: 4; Isa. 55: 6, 7.) 

4 Ptov. 14: 32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous 
hath hope in his death. See also, the example of the rich man and Lazarus. . Luke 
16: 25. Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus 
evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (John 8: 21-24; 
Prov. 10: 24; Luke 12: 4, 5; 9: 23-26. John 12: 25, 26; Eccl. 3: 17; Matt. 7: 13, 14) 
182 



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. 

i. The Scriptures speak of the righteous and 
the wicked. Everywhere in the Scriptures there 
is revealed a consciousness of these two great 
classes among men. The teachings of the Word 
of God continually seek to make men righteous 
and to warn the wicked of the error and danger 
of their ways, and the consequences of righteous- 
ness and wickedness are set forth, in order that 
men may know the destiny which waits on well 
doing or evil doing. 

Righteousness and wickedness are seen in the 
light of the relation of men to God, and also to 
each other. Righteous men obey God's laws, 
the laws that call for reverence of Him and the 
laws that call for justice and right doing towards 
men. Wicked men are first of all rebels in heart 
against God; but also they are injurious to other 
men. 

2. The difference between the righteous and 
the wicked is shown by many marks. That dif- 
ference may be shown in the countenance; for 
the face often registers unmistakably to the eyes 
even of the passing multitude what is going on 
in the heart. That difference may be revealed 
on the tongue, and is commonly so revealed; for 
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh. That difference may be made apparent 
and conspicuous by acts, whether towards the 
law of God or the persons of men. But though 
He who reads the heart knows who are righteous 
and who are wicked, they who see only the faces 
of men, or hear their words, or consider their 
acts, may sometimes be ignorant of the classifi- 
cation to which any particular man belongs. 

188 



184 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

The wicked mar may sometimes seek to model 
his life externally according to the rule of righteous- 
ness, and may disguise the unbelief and sin of 
his heart from human eyes. But external con- 
formity does not change the great fact that there 
is a difference between the righteous and the wick- 
ed, and that this difference tends to express it- 
self in countenance, word and deed. 

3. The difference between the righteous and 
the wicked is radical and essential. It is a dif- 
ference at the very root of being. It is a dif- 
ference in the essence of character. There is a 
difference of heart. There is a difference of feel- 
ing. The emotions of the righteous man differ 
from the emotions of the wicked man. There is 
a difference in choice: the decisions of the righteous 
man are for righteousness, and of the wicked man 
for wickedness. There is a difference in desire: 
the desires of righteous men turn towards God, 
while the desires of the evil man turn towards 
self -gratification. One would do God's will, the 
other would do his own will. If the wicked man 
makes his life conform externally to the rules of 
righteous behavior, it is for a selfish reason: but 
the righteous man's life is conformed to the will 
of God because he has been transformed by the 
renewing of his mind. The one has his eyes on 
the outer rule, the other obeys an indwelling spirit. 

4. The righteous man is not so naturally: 
all have sinned. Every man's heart tends to 
lead him astray. He starts his life in the com- 
pany of the wicked. "The carnal mind is en- 
mity against God, for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be. So then they 
that are in the flesh cannot please God." 
Righteous men ar«e those who have been separated 



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED 185 

from the wicked. They are reformed and re- 
formers in the great body of human society. 
They know the hearts of the wicked, because they 
have come out from among them; but the wicked 
do not know their hearts, not having had experi- 
ence of them. The righteous can speak confi- 
dently of the two ways of life, having known both, 
whereas the wicked have no knowledge of the life 
of righteousness and faith. 

5. Men become righteous as a result of super- 
natural change. This is an inner and essential 
change. It is not a natural development. It does 
not come about until a supernatural power has 
come into the heart. This supernatural power 
impels the soul with new strength and in new 
directions. There is a new attitude of the soul 
towards God. This is the beginning of right- 
eousness. From this beginning there is progress 
in many directions. The man does right. He 
does right before God. He does right in respect 
to men. There comes a fulness of right doing 
into his life. It grows from within. It expresses 
itself without. A light is in the face which is 
the clear shining of an inner light. Out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 
As the service of his reasoning soul he places him- 
self upon the altar of God as a living sacrifice. 

6. This righteousness comes by faith. Faith 
changes the attitude towards God and the ob- 
jects of desire. Exercising faith, the man looks 
for the laws of right and wrong, desiring to shun 
the wrong and cleave to the right. Exercising 
faith he receives divine strength to enable him 
to shun the wrong and do the right. Exercising 
faith he discriminates between objects of desire, 
willing and anxious to reject the evil and hold to 



1 86 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

the good. He is not hopeless in the presence of 
the evil forces of life; faith makes him hopeful. 
He realizes that he is not alone in the fight for 
the good; faith gives him a sense of fellowship 
with God. The prevalence of hindrances all 
along the way, and the fact that the world is 
lying in wickedness, does not lead him to despair; 
by faith he has laid hold of One who is mighty 
to save, and he believes that, having God on his 
side, though he fight against flesh, and principal- 
ities, and the evil powers in high places, he shall 
be able to keep the way of righteousness even 
unto the end. 

7. This change by faith gives the man a new 
standing with God. The just shall live by faith. 
To live is more than to belong to the church. 
The very substance of life is new. Where faith 
is there is new life. There has come power to 
become children of God. And this righteous 
man has the standing of a righteous man. God 
accepts him in this character. He deals with 
him as with a son. Though he was under condem- 
nation in the days of his sin and unbelief, he is 
now free from condemnation. Though he was 
on the way to destruction, his face is now towards 
the rewards of life in a way that grows brighter 
and brighter unto the perfect day. He belongs 
to the great family of God, and has hope of the 
blessings which await those whom God calls 
faithful. 

8. The man who becomes righteous through 
faith is righteous in character. By faith there is 
justification. By the action of the Holy Spirit 
there is regeneration and sanctification. Where 
faith begins the process of cleansing and strength- 
ening begins. The man follows Jesus Christ; 



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED 187 

he is a disciple; he loves; he obeys. The man is 
a servant of Jesus Christ: he yields to him as 
Master whom he loves as Saviour. The man is 
a conqueror on the field of battle: he wins the 
victories of faith. He tramples temptation under 
his feet. He wrestles with the impulses that 
threaten to lay him low, and because the Holy 
Spirit is his yoke-fellow he comes out of the con- 
flict victorious. The righteous man does not 
differ from the wicked as the son of a rich man 
differs from the son of a poor man, because his 
father has much which he could give him: he 
differs from the wicked man in both standing 
and character. His heart is knit to Jesus Christ, 
his will is subordinate to the will of his Father, 
the desire and purpose of his life is to follow, honor 
and obey the law of God. 

9. Persistence in sin reveals the presence of 
unbelief. All unbelief is sin. Every sin has un- 
belief at its root. Impenitence is unbelief re- 
fusing to sorrow for sin against the authority of 
God. Transgression is unbelief disregarding the 
law of God. Hardened by unbelief the heart 
stubbornly holds to the way of disobedience in 
spite of reiterated commands. Warnings are 
spurned, mercies are rejected. By unbelief the 
law is treated as if it were a lie, the sovereignty 
of God as am imposture, punishment of sin as a 
mirage, the rewards of righteousness as a mock- 
ery. Unbelief makes the soul blind so that it 
cannot see and deaf so that it cannot hear. The 
realities of God are treated as if they were fancies, 
and the deceits of Satan as if they were the reve- 
lations of God. Evil takes the place of good, and 
good of evil, darkness is put for light and light 
for darkness. • 



1 88 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

He who speaks of unbelief as if it were a trifle 
is like one who laughs at the approach of death 
as if it were the flitting of a passing bird. 

10. Where impenitence and unbelief abide 
there is guilt. A law has been broken. A law- 
giver has been contemned. The teaching of 
godliness has been rejected. The offers of mercy 
have been spurned. For this is the age of the 
gospel. Something has been added to the law. 
A way of escape has been offered to the sinner. 
That offer has been made by the Son of God. It 
has been brought near by a divine sacrifice. Law 
has commanded, showing the way of righteous- 
ness, and pointing to the consequences of sin. 
Love has pleaded, offering free pardon. Appeals 
have been multiplied. The sinner has been beset 
behind and before by the voices of free grace. 
The Holy Spirit has presented the truth which 
leads to salvation. The wickedness of trans- 
gression has been emphasized by the extraordinary 
sacrifices of the Lamb of God who taketh away 
the sin of the world. To the awful solemnities 
of Sinai, where the law was given, have been added 
the awful darkness of Calvary, where the life of 
the Son of God was laid down for the redemption 
of the lost. He therefore who persists in impeni- 
tence and unbelief in the gospel dispensation, where 
the gospel is preached, is guilty of aggravated 
sins and multiplied transgressions. 
» ii. This distinction and difference between 
men is not changed by death. Death has no 
power to redeem a soul from sin. It cannot be a 
substitute for the Lamb of God who taketh away 
the sin of the world. The just shall live by faith, 
not by death. Regeneration is wrought by the 
Holy Spirit, not by death. Men are sanctified 



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED 189 

by the truth through the Holy Spirit, not by death. 
The man who goes out of this life by the door of 
death is the same man who enters into the next 
life. 

It is the same man, with the same loves and the 
same hates, with the same attitude towards sin 
and towards God. The righteous man dies: he 
goes forward to meet his God as a righteous man. 
The wicked man dies: he goes forward as a wicked 
man to meet his God. The same Scriptures that 
speak continually of the righteous and the wicked 
in this life, speak of the same distinction after 
this life. It cannot be inferred from any facts 
of which man has knowledge that death has the 
power to transform a wicked man into a righteous 
man or to debase a righteous man into a wicked 
man. It is not taught in the Scriptures that death 
has any such power. The contrary is taught. 

12. This difference makes for separation in 
the next world. The righteous go to their own 
company and the wicked to their own company. 
The impenitent and unbelieving are gathered to 
the impenitent and unbelieving. The children 
of God, saved by faith, regenerated and sanctified 
by the Holy Spirit, are gathered to their own kind. 
For the righteous there is blessedness; for the 
wicked there is doom. The direction has been 
taken in this life, the destiny is fixed in the future 
life. This is not by a harsh and arbitrary decree. 
It is not the action of a new and strange law. 
The separation of the righteous from the wicked 
is in harmony with all moral law so far as it has 
been revealed to us. Consequences wait upon 
conduct. 

Conduct is not merely a matter of the hand, 
but also of the heart. A man is righteous or 



I90 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

wicked according to what he is within him. By 
his inner affections and attitude of soul his pro- 
foundest relationships are determined. If he is 
godly in heart, he is forever linked with that which 
he has chosen. If he is ungodly in heart, to that 
which he has dhosen he is linked. It is not a mat- 
ter of externals. Future punishment is not a 
matter of whips and scourgings. 

Future punishments and rewards do not belong 
to the realm of the external. They go down deep 
into the soul. The rewards of the righteous would 
give no joy to the wicked, even as the wicked 
have found no joy in faith, worship, and love of 
God on earth. 

The punishments of the wicked can have no 
terrors for the righteous, for the pangs of the lost 
depend upon a relation to God of which the 
righteous know nothing. The righteous are in 
heaven. It is heaven to be with God. The 
wicked are in hell; it is hell to be out of fellowship 
with God. Each has that for which he is pre- 
pared, for which he has been prepared in this 
life, which he has deliberately chosen. His 
choice placed him at the left of the Judge, or at 
the right. The man who goes to the right hears 
the word that welcomes him to eternal blessed- 
ness; he who goes to the left hears the word that 
dooms him to eternal punishment. 



THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED I9I 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVII. 

1. Into what two great classes does the Bible 
divide men? 

2. How may the difference between the right- 
eous and the wicked be shown? 

3. How great is the difference? 

4. Who are the righteous? 

5. What change is necessary to make men 
righteous? 

6. What is the relation of faith to righteous- 
ness? 

7. What standing in God's sight has the man 
of faith? 

8. What character is produced by faith? 

9. What is revealed by persistence in sin? 

10. Discuss the guilt of the man who persists 
in sin? 

11. How does death affect the character of a 
man? 

12. What makes for separation in the future 
life between the righteous and the wicked? 



XVIII. THE WORLD TO COME. 

We believe that the end of the world is approaching; 1 that 
at the last day Christ will descend from heaven, 2 and raise the 
dead from the grave to final retribution; 3 that a solemn separa- 
tion will then take place; 4 that the wicked will be adjudged to 
endless punishment, and the righteous to endless joy; 5 and that 
this judgment will fix forever the final state of men in heaven 
or hell, on principles of righteousness. 6 

Places in the Bible where taught. 

*1 Peter 4: 7. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and 
watch unto prayer. (1 Cor. 7:29-31; Heb. 1:10-12; Matt. 25:31; 28:20; 13: 
39-43; 1 John 2: 17; 2 Peter 3: 3-13.) 

2 Act8 1:11. This same Jesus, which was taken up from you into heaven, shall 
bo come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Rev. 1 : 7; Heb. 9: 
28; Acts 3:21; 1 Thess. 4: 13-18; 5: 1-11.) 

3 Acts 24 : 15. There shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just and un- 
just. (1 Cor. 15: 12-59; Luke 14: 14; Dan. 12: 2; John 5: 28, 29; 6: 40; 11: 25, 
26; Acts 10:42.) 

4 Matt. 13: 49. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among 
the just. (Matt. 13:37-43; 24:30, 31; 25:31-33.) 

5 Matt. 25:31-46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but 
the righteous into life eternal. Rev. 22 : 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust 
still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him 
be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (1 Cor. 6 : 9, 10; Mark 
9: 43-48; 2 Peter 2: 9; Jude 7: Phil. 3: 19; Rom. 6: 32; 2 Cor. 5: 10, 11; John 4: 
36; 2 Cor. 4: 18.) 

6 Rom. 3:5,6. Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man.) 
God forbid: for how then shall God judge the world? 2 Thess. 1 : 6-12. Seeing it 
is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, 
and to you who are troubled rest with us . . . when he shall come to be glorified 
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. (Heb. 6: 1, 2; 1 Cor. 
4: 5; Acts 17: 31; Rom. 2: 2-16; Rev. 20: 11, 12; 1 John 2: 28; 4: 17. 

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner 
OP persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, look- 
ing pos and hasting unto the coming op the day op God? 2 Peter 3: 11, 12. 
192 



THE WORLD TO COME. 

1. The New Testament speaks of two worlds. 

He who would think correctly must think of 
the present world in which we are and another 
world towards which we are journeying. No, 
one can do his full duty to himself and others 
unless he has the consciousness of the world to 
come as well as of the world that now is. And 
yet if we are wholly absorbed in thought of the 
world to come, to the neglect of this world, we 
shall equally fail in our duty. In this world we 
have constant and great responsibilities. These 
we must discharge in the fear of God. But we 
should remember that the world, as now con- 
stituted, will come to an end. This is not a mat- 
ter of fancy but of revelation. Jesus Christ 
taught during all his ministry with this great fact 
in his thought. It was in the teaching of John 
and Peter who companied with Jesus. It was in 
the teaching of Paul. It was in his conscious- 
ness at all times. He was ever looking forward 
to "that day" which should mark the end of this 
age. He thought of it as a day of culmination 
and of cataclysm. 

This truth was received by the early Christian 
church with both fear and joy. It has been cher- 
ished and perpetuated by all the Christian church- 
es of all the Christian centuries. We look for 
the end of this age. We speak of it as the end 
of the world. 

2. That day will be a time of cataclysm and of 
climax. 

It will be a day of cataclysm. Evil shall be 
swept away as by a deluge. The forces of in- 
iquity shall have no more power to perpetuate 

193 



194 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

themselves upon the earth. Evil men and se- 
ducers, who have waxed worse and worse in 
this age, shall have no more that they can do. 
It shall be a day of the binding of evil, not of 
loosing it, a day of culminating defeat for sin. 

It shall be a day of climax for good. Ancient 
wrongs shall then be made right. The last shall 
become first. Righteousness shall be seen trium- 
phant and the righteous shall reap the rewards 
of their righteousness. It shall be a day of 
Christ's recognized supremacy. He shall be 
seen of all men as King of kings and Lord of lords. 
Every eye shall see him and they also that pierced 
him. 

3. It shall be a day of his power and glory as 
well as of revelation. In his earthly ministry 
he saw of the travail of his soul; but he was satis- 
fied. He was satisfied because he saw beyond the 
suffering and the appearance of defeat. He saw 
through the darkness of the crucifixion what man 
did not see. He heard, even while the mob 
shouted mockery and derision about the cross, 
what no other heard. He knew that the way of 
agony was the way of victory, and that after the 
shedding of blood there should come the triumph 
of his power. And this is the hope which has 
sustained the followers of Christ through the 
centuries. We see not yet all things put under 
him. The conflict is still on. The mob still 
cries " Crucify Him." The soldiers of the armies 
of the world still part his garments among them 
and cast lots upon his vesture. Thieves deride 
him. The passing multitudes look on with curios- 
ity, and go to their business or their play indif- 
ferently. 

But it shall not be so at the end of the world. 



THE WORLD TO COME I95 

As the stone was rolled from the mouth of the 
sepulchre where his body had been laid, so every 
hindering force or obstacle shall be cast away by 
his power. And the glory which men have with- 
held from him shall be given him in that hour 
when there shall appear the culmination of his 
work upon the earth and the defeat of his enemies. 
He shall come in power and great glory. 

4. His power shall appear in connection with 
the dead. He who proved his power over death 
and the grave when he rose from the dead shall 
manifest that power at the end of the age. The 
death of the body is not a final state. By his 
resurrection Christ set this forth to the ages. 
In the New Testament the meaning of this is 
taught. Those who are in the grave at the end 
of the age shall be raised from the dead by the 
power of Christ. He is the Son of man. He is 
the Head of the human race. He has authority 
over the good and the bad, to do with them what 
he will, according to the eternal principles of 
righteousness by which the universe is guided. 
At Christ's coming in the end of the age he will 
raise all from the dead. 

The difficulties which stagger our thought shall 
not stagger his power. Our conceptions of what 
that raising from the dead shall mean may be 
very confused or crude or faltering. With method 
or conditions we need not perplex ourselves. 
Already things which seemed impossible, incred- 
ible, self-contradictory, have come to pass. They 
have been multiplied in these last days, as if to 
rebuke our doubts and silence our questioning. 
They bid us remember that Jesus rose from the 
dead, and that the wonders and marvels of the 
last day are announced by One who has revealed 



I96 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

his power in the centuries as well as in the gar- 
den of Joseph of Arimathea. 

5. This raising from the dead shall be fol- 
lowed by a separation of the righteous from the 
wicked forever. Destiny shall then be declared 
finally. In this world the righteous and the 
wicked are like the wheat and the tares that grow 
in the same field. In many things the roots of 
the two interlace as they grow side by side. But 
in fact there is a separation even here. It is 
the separation of character. The wheat and the 
tares are never the same. 

The righteous and the wicked are never the 
same. They are separated in the character of 
their life. They tend to grow more and more 
unlike each other. At the end of life the right- 
eous man dies in his righteousness and the wicked 
man in his wickedness. The end of the age, when 
Christ shall complete his work, not now as Saviour 
but as Judge, is the time set forth for the final 
affirming of destiny. Character tends to final 
permanence. Finality may not appear soon. 
It appears at "the end," the end of all probation 
and invitation, of all the promises of grace. 

6. The wicked shall go into permanent exile 
from God. That shall be the punishment. That 
is the fate to which they shall be condemned. 
That is the hell into which the wicked shall be 
turned. 

In this Christ will not be exhibiting a new char- 
acter. He who has been compassionate as a 
Redeemer will not be vindictive as a Judge. A 
judge does not personally inflict punishment. It 
is the law which inflicts punishment. The judge 
declares it. In this the judge does no more than 
voice that which the violator of the law has 



THE WORLD TO COME I97 

already chosen. The wicked choose to put them- 
selves into a certain relation to the law. That 
relation is the opposite of fellowship. The wicked 
do not think God's thoughts, do not love His 
ways, do not share His purposes. In a word they 
exile themselves from all that makes the atmos- 
phere about God. They elect to be outside that 
circle of righteousness and faith and trust and 
love. And the punishment of their wickedness is 
its inevitable consequence. In that last great 
day the final award is declared, the wicked re- 
ceiving that which they have sought and being 
turned forever from that which they have finally 
rejected. 

7. The righteous shall go into full fellowship 
with God. This is heaven. This is the reward 
of righteousness. By striking and beautiful pic- 
tures the book of Revelation seeks to give us a 
conception of the beauty, glory, greatness and 
joy of heaven. All these pictures are inadequate. 
We cannot justly conceive of heaven. But they 
who love God most fervently, and know most of 
the thrilling joy of fellowship with Christ, will 
get an ever fuller idea of heaven by pondering the 
references to the future life contained in Christ's 
final discourses to his disciples, and in the prayer 
which is recorded in the seventeenth of John. 
Fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ 
the Son is there shown to be the final destiny of 
believers. As in the case of the wicked, they go 
to that which they have chosen. They love God 
whom they have not seen, having been taught how 
to love Him by Christ, and having been spirit- 
ually quickened by the Holy Spirit. ' 

8. The phrases which describe the f nal state 
of the wicked and of the righteous are "in hell" 



I98 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

and "in heaven." The wicked are said to be in 
hell. Because of crude and materialistic repre- 
sentations of hell the word carries a meaning to 
many which is not justified by a study of the 
Word of God. This is because of certain concep- 
tions which were wrought into poetry and pic- 
tures in the Middle Ages. "Hell" in the thought 
of many, is such a place as Dante described, or 
Milton, or as some of the great painters portrayed. 
These gruesome and _ materialistic ideas have 
been rejected. 

i And yet Scripture language shows the inade- 
quacy of human speech to rightly portray the 
future condition of those who know not God in 
the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. 

Men should take heed lest, in rejecting the crude 
conceptions of a rude and fanciful past, they re- 
ject the great and awful truth which the Bible 
unmistakably teaches, a truth which is attested 
by all that we know of the working of the laws of 
God in nature. That doom awaits the wicked is 
emphatically taught in the Scriptures. It was 
taught by Jesus Christ. That the essence of 
this doom is exile from God is clearly revealed. 
And it is exile from God which is hell. How 
terrible that will be no mind of man can measure, 
no tongue of man tell. 

In the same way the righteous are said to be 
"in heaven." Here also we are in danger of 
being misled by the painters and poets. In 
respect to heaven there are pictorial representa- 
tions of a noble and wonderful character in the 
book of Revelation. Based on these there has 
come to be a materialistic conception of heaven 
which does scant justice to the glorious concep- 
tion given us by Christ. The majesty, glory and 



THE WORLD TO COME I99 

bliss of heaven, as presented by him, we cannot 
realize. We would need to be able to realize 
what God can do, and the complete measure of 
His love, before we could think or tell what heav- 
en shall be for those who are saved by Jesus 
Christ. Our greatest joys on earth are found in 
the realm of intimacy with those who are loved. 
The rewards of the righteous shall come by inti- 
macy with God. That will be heaven. There 
are many things which we cannot know now. 
We shall know hereafter. And the surprises of 
heaven shall be from the fulness of God's love, the 
marvelous plenitude of grace in Christ Jesus. 

9. In this separation between the righteous 
and the wicked the principles of righteousness 
shall obtain. No one will be turned into heaven 
who ought to be in hell, and no one turned into 
hell who ought to be in heaven. We may raise 
many questions as to what shall be the final des- 
tiny of this man or that. All such questioning 
is vain and inadvisable. We may be fairly cer- 
tain of the ultimate destiny of some men, their 
relations to Christ being so clearly revealed and 
so abundantly proven. 

But there are multitudes concerning whom we 
have no certain knowledge. What grace God is 
pressing upon them, and what response they are 
making, we do not know. Doubtless many are 
near to God whom we think to be far from Him; 
doubtless some are far from God whom we think 
to be near Him. It should be our solemn con- 
cern and constant employment, to see that we 
are walking humbly before Him, in faith and love, 
as is becoming in those who hope for heaven. 
One thing we must know: the Lord of all the earth 
will do right. There will be no favoritism and 



200 WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 

no poor whims and prejudices in settling the ques- 
tion of the fate of immortal souls. All shall go 
into heaven who can be sent into heaven. He who 
paid the price of redemption in tears and agony 
and blood will be more eager than the most mag- 
nanimous and large hearted of the sons of men to 
save souls from hell. 

10. No one shall be able to glory because he is 
in heaven; nor can the lost blame God because 
of his lost condition. He who is in exile 
from God is self-exiled. He has wilfully gone to 
his own company. He has resisted the voice 
of conscience. He has gone against his sounder 
judgment. He has refused to obey the call of 
his heavenly Father. He has broken away from 
the bands that would have restrained him and 
has smitten the hand that would have guided him 
in the way of righteousness and life. The doom 
which has been pronounced on him is no more 
than the ratification of his own choice, prefer- 
ences and determinations. They who have 
pierced the Son of God will not blame God be- 
cause they are in the company of those who have 
the heart to pierce the Son of God. 

And as the wicked shall not be able to blame God, 
so the righteous cannot but glorify Him. The 
righteous are not in heaven because of their own 
merits or power. They have been saved by grace. 
They availed themselves of a proffered mercy 
and accepted a provided salvation. Their song must 
forever be, "Salvation to our God who sitteth 

upon the throne, and unto the Lamb Amen : 

Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiv- 
ing, and honor, and praise, and might be unto 
our God forever and ever. Amen." Rev. 7:10, 
12. 



THE WORLD TO COME 201 



QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XVIII. 

i. What two worlds are presented to our 
thought by the Bible? What day is referred to? 

2. When shall that day be? 

3. What shall that day be in relation to Christ? 

4. How shall the power of Christ be shown in 
relation to the dead? 

5. What destinies shall then be declared? 

6. Where shall the wicked go? 

7. Where shall the righteous go? 

8. What is meant by " in hell" and " in heaven? 

9. On what principle shall some be sent into 
exile and others into heavenly rewards? 

10. Shall lost souls be able to blame God? 
Shall saved souls be able to boast? 

11. Commit to memory the concluding words 
of this chapter. 



yy 



SPECIMEN QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINA- 
TION. 

i. The Bible — (i) How was it produced? 

(2) What as to its matter? (3) What as to its 
mission? 

2. The True God) — (1) Name some, divine 
attributes. (2) What is meant by the unity of 
God? (3) What by the Trinity? 

3. The Fall of Man — (1) In what moral state 
was man created? (2) How did sin come? 

(3) Name some consequences of the fall. 

4. The Way of Salvation — (1) What part does 
grace play in the salvation of sinners? (2) Name 
some things Jesus did for our salvation. 

5. Justification — (1) What does it include? 
(2) On what basis is it given? (3) What bless- 
ings does it bring? 

6. The Freeness of Salvation — (1) Trace the 
meaning of the word "gospel." (2) What pre- 
vents the salvation of sinners? (3) Tell some- 
thing of the faith which produces salvation. 

7. Grace in Regeneration — (1) What is regen- 
eration? (2) How is it effected? (3) What is 
its proper evidence? 

8. Repentance and Faith — (1) Are these duties 
to be performed by us or graces to be divinely 
wrought within us? (2) Name some results 
which they produce. 

9. God's Purpose of Grace — (1) What is Elec- 
tion? (2) What as to means? (3) What as to 
boasting? (4) What as to its being ascertained? 

10. Sanctification — (1) What is it? (2) How 
is it carried on? (3) Name some means which 
the believer may use. 

11. Perseverance — (1) Who only are real be- 






SPECIMEN QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 203 

lievers? (2) What is the final test? (3) What 
as to God's part? 

12. Harmony of Law and Gospel — (1) What 
as to the law of God? (2) Why are men unable 
to fulfill it? (3) How does God help men to keep 
this law? 

13. A Gospel Church — (1) What is a church of 
Christ? (2). Name some essential principles of 
a Baptist Church (Page 147). 

14. Baptism and the Lord's Supper — (1) What 
is Baptism? (2) What is the purpose of the Sup- 
per? (3) What is the order of these ordinances 
and why? 

15. The Christian Sabbath — (1) Why the 
change from the seventh day to the first? (2) 
What as to the observance of the Sabbath? 

16. Civil Governments — (1) What authority 
lies back of civil government? (2) Name some 
duties which we owe to the state. (3) What 
limitation of such duties? 

17. The Righteous and the Wicked— (1) What 
as to the difference? (2) What is the final test? 
(3) Their destiny hereafter? 

18. The World to Come— (1) What will occur 
in the last day? (2) What will be the basis of 
judgment? 



APPENDIX. 

Abstract of Principles of the Southern 

Baptist Theological Seminary — 

Louisville, Ky. 

i. the scriptures. 

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 
were given by inspiration of God, and are the only 
sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all 
saving knowledge, faith and obedience. 

II. GOD. 

There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver 
and Ruler of all things, having in and of himself, 
all perfections, and being infinite in them all; 
and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, 
reverence and obedience. 

in. the trinity. 

God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit each with distinct personal attributes, but 
without division of nature, essence or being. 

IV. PROVIDENCE. 

God from eternity, decrees or permits all 
things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, 
directs and governs all creatures and all events; 
yet so as not in any wise to be the author or ap- 
prover of sin nor to destroy the free will and 
responsibility of intelligent creatures. 
v. election. 

Election is God's eternal choice of some persons 
unto everlasting life — not because of foreseen 
merit in them, but of His mere mercy in Christ — 
in consequence of which choice they are called, 
justified and glorified. 



WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 205 

VI. THE FALL OF MAN. 

God originally created man in His own image, 
and free from sin; but, through the temptation 
of Satan, he transgressed the command of God, 
and fell from his original holiness and righteous- 
ness; whereby his posterity inherit a nature cor- 
rupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are 
under condemnation, and as soon as they are 
capable of moral action, become actual trans- 
gressors. 

VII. THE MEDIATOR. 

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is 
the divinely appointed mediator between God and 
man. Having taken upon Himself human na- 
ture, yet without sin, He perfectly fulfilled the 
law, suffered and died upon the cross for the sal- 
vation of sinners. He was buried, and rose again 
the third day, and ascended to His Father, at 
whose right hand He ever liveth to make inter- 
cession for His people. He is the only Mediator, 
the Prophet, Priest and King of the Church, 
and Sovereign of the Universe. 

VIII. REGENERATION. 

Regeneration is a change of heart, wrought by 
the Holy Spirit, who quickeneth the dead in tres- 
passes and sins, enlightening their minds spirit- 
ually and savingly to understand the Word of 
God, and renewing their whole nature, so that 
they love and practice holiness. It is a work of 
God's free and special grace alone. 

IX. REPENTANCE. 

Repentance is an evangelical grace, wherein 
a person being, by the Holy Spirit, made sensible 
of the manifold evil of his sin, humbleth himself 



2o6 APPENDIX 

for it, with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and 
self-abhorrence, with a purpose and endeavor to 
walk before God so as to please Him in all things. 

x. FAITH. 

Saving faith is the belief, on God's authority, 
of whatsoever is revealed in His word concern- 
ing Christ; accepting and resting upon Him alone 
for justification, sanctification and eternal life. 
It is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, 
and is accompanied by all other saving graces, 
and leads to a life of holiness. 

XI. JUSTIFICATION. 

Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal 
of sinners, who believe in Christ, from all sin, 
through the satisfaction that Christ has made; 
not for anything wrought in them or done by 
them; but on account of the obedience and satis- 
faction of Christ, they receiving and resting on 
Him and His righteousness by faith. 

XII. SANCTIFICATION. 

Those who have been regenerated are also 
sanctified, by God's word and Spirit dwelling in 
them. This sanctification is progressive through 
the supply of Divine strength, which all saints 
seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in 
cordial obedience to all Christ's commands. 

XIII. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 

Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, 
and sanctified by His Spirit, will never totally nor 
finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall 
certainly persevere to the end; and though they 
may fall, through neglect and temptation, into 
sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their 
graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church 



WHAT BAPTISTS BELIEVE 207 

and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they 
shall be renewed again unto repentance, and be 
kept by the power of God through faith unto 
salvation. 

XTV. THE CHURCH. 

The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, 
which is composed of all his true disciples, and in 
Him is invested supremely all power for its gov- 
ernment. According to his commandment, Chris- 
tians are to associate themselves into particular 
societies or churches; and to each of these churches 
he hath given needful authority for administering 
that order, discipline and worship which he hath 
appointed. The regular officers of a Church are 
Bishops or Elders, and Deacons. 

XV. BAPTISM. 

Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, 
obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is 
immersed in water in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign 
of his fellowship with the death and resurrection 
of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving 
himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of 
life. It is prerequisite to church fellowship, and 
to participation in the Lord's Supper. 

XVI. THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of Jesus 
Christ, to be administered with the elements of 
bread and wine, and to be observed by his churches 
till the end of the world. It is in no sense a sac- 
rifice, but is designed to commemorate his death, 
to confirm the faith and other graces of Chris- 
tians, and to be a bond, pledge and renewal of 
their communion with him, and of their church 
fellowship. 



208 APPENDIX 

XVII. THE LORD'S DAY. 

The Lord's day is a Christian institution for 
regular observance, and should be employed in 
exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both 
public and private, resting from worldly employ- 
ments and amusements, works of necessity and 
mercy only excepted. 

XVIII. LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 

God alone is Lord of the conscience; and He 
hath left it free from the doctrines and command- 
ments of men, which are in anything contrary to 
His word, or not contained in it. Civil magis- 
trates being ordained of God, subjection in all 
lawful things commanded by them ought to be 
yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, 
but also for conscience's sake. 

XIX. THE RESURRECTION. 

The bodies of men after death return to dust, 
but their spirits return immediately to God — 
the righteous to rest with Him; the wicked, to 
be reserved under darkness to the judgment. 
At the last day, the bodies of all the dead, both 
just and unjust, will be raised. 

XX. THE JUDGMENT. 

God hath appointed a day wherein he will 
judge the world by Jesus Christ, when every one 
shall receive according to his deeds: the wicked 
shall go away into everlasting punishment; the 
righteous, into everlasting life. 



-1 



^1 



> 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Par1< Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




017 523 650 8 



ill 



W W 

wsBBB 



...:■—.•■■-. 

■ •■•■•■•. 

•..•■■■••:•:■■• 




